Califano, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare v. Goldfarb

Decided March 2, 1977. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 75-699 · 430 U.S. 199 (1977) · Cited 384 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

“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.

• Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld · 420 U.S. 636 (1975)
• Kahn v. Shevin · 416 U.S. 351 (1974)
• Frontiero v. Richardson · 411 U.S. 677 (1973)
• Mathews v. Lucas · 427 U.S. 495 (1976)
• Weinberger v. Salfi · 422 U.S. 749 (1975)
• Reed v. Reed · 404 U.S. 71 (1971)
• Schlesinger v. Ballard · 419 U.S. 498 (1975)
• Stanley v. Illinois · 405 U.S. 645 (1972)
• Craig v. Boren · 429 U.S. 190 (1976)
• Flemming v. Nestor · 363 U.S. 603 (1960)
• Cleveland Board of Education v. LaFleur · 414 U.S. 632 (1974)
• Stanton v. Stanton · 421 U.S. 7 (1975)
• Weber v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. · 406 U.S. 164 (1972)
• Hampton v. Mow Sun Wong · 426 U.S. 88 (1976)
• Jimenez v. Weinberger · 417 U.S. 628 (1974)
• Dandridge v. Williams · 397 U.S. 471 (1970)
• Richardson v. Belcher · 404 U.S. 78 (1971)
• Williamson v. Lee Optical of Oklahoma, Inc. · 348 U.S. 483 (1955)
• Taylor v. Louisiana · 419 U.S. 522 (1975)
• Lindsley v. Natural Carbonic Gas Co. · 220 U.S. 61 (1911)
• Levy v. Louisiana Ex Rel. Charity Hospital · 391 U.S. 68 (1968)
• Jefferson v. Hackney · 406 U.S. 535 (1972)
• Geduldig v. Aiello · 417 U.S. 484 (1974)
• Mathews v. De Castro · 429 U.S. 181 (1976)

Cited by

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

• Heckler v. Mathews · 465 U.S. 728 (1984)
• Wengler v. Druggists Mutual Insurance · 446 U.S. 142 (1980)
• Califano v. Westcott · 443 U.S. 76 (1979)
• Sessions v. Morales-Santana · 582 U.S. 47 (2017)
• Regents of the University of California v. Bakke · 438 U.S. 265 (1978)
• Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County · 450 U.S. 464 (1981)
• Personnel Administrator of Mass. v. Feeney · 442 U.S. 256 (1979)
• Obergefell v. Hodges · 576 U.S. 644 (2015)
• United States v. Virginia · 518 U.S. 515 (1996)
• Gonzales v. Carhart · 550 U.S. 124 (2007)
• Barr v. American Assn. of Political Consultants, Inc. · 591 U.S. 610 (2020)
• Lehr v. Robertson · 463 U.S. 248 (1983)
• Fullilove v. Klutznick · 448 U.S. 448 (1980)
• Orr v. Orr · 440 U.S. 268 (1979)
• Miller v. Albright · 523 U.S. 420 (1998)
• Tuan Anh Nguyen v. Immigration & Naturalization Service · 533 U.S. 53 (2001)
• City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc. · 473 U.S. 432 (1985)
• Cannon v. University of Chicago · 441 U.S. 677 (1979)
• Duren v. Missouri · 439 U.S. 357 (1979)
• Reno v. Flores · 507 U.S. 292 (1993)
• Heckler v. Ringer · 466 U.S. 602 (1984)
• Vance v. Bradley · 440 U.S. 93 (1979)
• Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena · 515 U.S. 200 (1995)
• Zablocki v. Redhail · 434 U.S. 374 (1978)
• United States Railroad Retirement Board v. Fritz · 449 U.S. 166 (1980)
• Great American Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Novotny · 442 U.S. 366 (1979)
• Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan · 458 U.S. 718 (1982)
• Caban v. Mohammed · 441 U.S. 380 (1979)
• Rostker v. Goldberg · 453 U.S. 57 (1981)
• Saenz v. Roe · 526 U.S. 489 (1999)

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).