Caban v. Mohammed et Ux.

Decided April 24, 1979. Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 77-6431 · 441 U.S. 380 (1979) · Cited 738 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 5–4.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Stanley v. Illinois · 405 U.S. 645 (1972)
• Quilloin v. Walcott · 434 U.S. 246 (1978)
• Smith v. Organization of Foster Families for Equality & Reform · 431 U.S. 816 (1977)
• Lalli v. Lalli · 439 U.S. 259 (1978)
• Reed v. Reed · 404 U.S. 71 (1971)
• Orr v. Orr · 440 U.S. 268 (1979)
• Trimble v. Gordon · 430 U.S. 762 (1977)
• Mathews v. Lucas · 427 U.S. 495 (1976)
• Stanton v. Stanton · 421 U.S. 7 (1975)
• Schlesinger v. Ballard · 419 U.S. 498 (1975)
• Edelman v. Jordan · 415 U.S. 651 (1974)
• Dandridge v. Williams · 397 U.S. 471 (1970)
• Reynolds v. Sims · 377 U.S. 533 (1964)
• San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez · 411 U.S. 1 (1973)
• Meyer v. Nebraska · 262 U.S. 390 (1923)
• Armstrong v. Manzo · 380 U.S. 545 (1965)
• Chevron Oil Co. v. Huson · 404 U.S. 97 (1971)
• Prince v. Massachusetts · 321 U.S. 158 (1944)
• Craig v. Boren · 429 U.S. 190 (1976)
• Moore v. City of East Cleveland · 431 U.S. 494 (1977)
• Frontiero v. Richardson · 411 U.S. 677 (1973)
• Vance v. Bradley · 440 U.S. 93 (1979)
• F. S. Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia · 253 U.S. 412 (1920)
• Hicks v. Miranda · 422 U.S. 332 (1975)
• Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri v. Danforth · 428 U.S. 52 (1976)
• Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld · 420 U.S. 636 (1975)
• Weber v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. · 406 U.S. 164 (1972)
• City of Los Angeles Department of Water v. Manhart · 435 U.S. 702 (1978)
• Lucas v. Forty-Fourth General Assembly of Colorado · 377 U.S. 713 (1964)
• Gomez v. Perez · 409 U.S. 535 (1973)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Lehr v. Robertson · 463 U.S. 248 (1983)
• Michael H. v. Gerald D. · 491 U.S. 110 (1989)
• Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County · 450 U.S. 464 (1981)
• Personnel Administrator of Mass. v. Feeney · 442 U.S. 256 (1979)
• Hodgson v. Minnesota · 497 U.S. 417 (1990)
• Sessions v. Morales-Santana · 582 U.S. 47 (2017)
• City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc. · 473 U.S. 432 (1985)
• Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan · 458 U.S. 718 (1982)
• California Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Guerra · 479 U.S. 272 (1987)
• Rostker v. Goldberg · 453 U.S. 57 (1981)
• Troxel v. Granville · 530 U.S. 57 (2000)
• Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey · 505 U.S. 833 (1992)
• United States v. Virginia · 518 U.S. 515 (1996)
• American Trucking Assns., Inc. v. Smith · 496 U.S. 167 (1990)
• Bowen v. Gilliard · 483 U.S. 587 (1987)
• Armco Inc. v. Hardesty · 467 U.S. 638 (1984)
• Tuan Anh Nguyen v. Immigration & Naturalization Service · 533 U.S. 53 (2001)
• Hooper v. Bernalillo County Assessor · 472 U.S. 612 (1985)
• United States v. Skrmetti · 605 U.S. 495 (2025)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).