Califano, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare v. Westcott et al.

Decided June 25, 1979. Harry Andrew Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 78-437 · 443 U.S. 76 (1979) · Cited 262 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.

• Califano v. Goldfarb · 430 U.S. 199 (1977)
• Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld · 420 U.S. 636 (1975)
• Batterton v. Francis · 432 U.S. 416 (1977)
• Frontiero v. Richardson · 411 U.S. 677 (1973)
• Welsh v. United States · 398 U.S. 333 (1970)
• Orr v. Orr · 440 U.S. 268 (1979)
• Califano v. Jobst · 434 U.S. 47 (1977)
• Dandridge v. Williams · 397 U.S. 471 (1970)
• Williamson v. Lee Optical of Oklahoma, Inc. · 348 U.S. 483 (1955)
• Taylor v. Louisiana · 419 U.S. 522 (1975)
• Craig v. Boren · 429 U.S. 190 (1976)
• Graham v. Richardson · 403 U.S. 365 (1971)
• Rosado v. Wyman · 397 U.S. 397 (1970)
• King v. Smith · 392 U.S. 309 (1968)
• United States Department of Agriculture v. Moreno · 413 U.S. 528 (1973)
• Maher v. Roe · 432 U.S. 464 (1977)
• Philbrook v. Glodgett · 421 U.S. 707 (1975)
• Stanton v. Stanton · 421 U.S. 7 (1975)
• Jimenez v. Weinberger · 417 U.S. 628 (1974)
• Califano v. Webster · 430 U.S. 313 (1977)
• Shea v. Vialpando · 416 U.S. 251 (1974)

Cited by

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

• Sessions v. Morales-Santana · 582 U.S. 47 (2017)
• Heckler v. Mathews · 465 U.S. 728 (1984)
• United States v. Booker · 543 U.S. 220 (2005)
• Obergefell v. Hodges · 576 U.S. 644 (2015)
• Barr v. American Assn. of Political Consultants, Inc. · 591 U.S. 610 (2020)
• Rostker v. Goldberg · 453 U.S. 57 (1981)
• Regan v. Time, Inc. · 468 U.S. 641 (1984)
• Wengler v. Druggists Mutual Insurance · 446 U.S. 142 (1980)
• United States v. Virginia · 518 U.S. 515 (1996)
• Bowsher v. Synar · 478 U.S. 714 (1986)
• California Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Guerra · 479 U.S. 272 (1987)
• Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New Eng. · 546 U.S. 320 (2006)
• Board of Ed. of Kiryas Joel Village School Dist. v. Grumet · 512 U.S. 687 (1994)
• Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County · 450 U.S. 464 (1981)
• Heckler v. Edwards · 465 U.S. 870 (1984)
• Miller v. Albright · 523 U.S. 420 (1998)
• Tuan Anh Nguyen v. Immigration & Naturalization Service · 533 U.S. 53 (2001)
• United States Trustee v. John Q. Hammons Fall 2006, LLC · 602 U.S. 487 (2024)

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).