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

Decided February 23, 1977. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 75-1443 · 430 U.S. 99 (1977) · Cited 3,951 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 8–0.

“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. Salfi · 422 U.S. 749 (1975)
• Mathews v. Eldridge · 424 U.S. 319 (1976)
• Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe · 401 U.S. 402 (1971)
• Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner · 387 U.S. 136 (1967)
• Johnson v. Robison · 415 U.S. 361 (1974)
• Rusk v. Cort · 369 U.S. 367 (1962)

Cited by

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

• Smith v. Berryhill · 587 U.S. 471 (2019)
• City of Chicago v. International College of Surgeons · 522 U.S. 156 (1997)
• Salinas v. Railroad Retirement Bd. · 592 U.S. 188 (2021)
• Interstate Commerce Commission v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers · 482 U.S. 270 (1987)
• Heckler v. Ringer · 466 U.S. 602 (1984)
• Your Home Visiting Nurse Services, Inc. v. Shalala · 525 U.S. 449 (1999)
• Lightfoot v. Cendant Mortgage Corp · 580 U.S. 82 (2017)
• Shalala v. Illinois Council on Long Term Care, Inc. · 529 U.S. 1 (2000)
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States · 431 U.S. 324 (1977)
• Superintendent, Mass. Correctional Institution at Walpole v. Hill · 472 U.S. 445 (1985)
• Patterson v. McLean Credit Union · 491 U.S. 164 (1989)
• Califano v. Yamasaki · 442 U.S. 682 (1979)
• Chrysler Corp. v. Brown · 441 U.S. 281 (1979)
• Reno v. Catholic Social Services, Inc. · 509 U.S. 43 (1993)
• Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs v. Greenwich Collieries · 512 U.S. 267 (1994)
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. Daniel · 439 U.S. 551 (1979)
• Thunder Basin Coal Co. v. Reich · 510 U.S. 200 (1994)
• Air Courier Conference of America v. American Postal Workers Union · 498 U.S. 517 (1991)
• Carr v. Saul · 593 U.S. 83 (2021)
• United States v. Erika, Inc. · 456 U.S. 201 (1982)
• Andrus v. Charlestone Stone Products Co. · 436 U.S. 604 (1978)

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).