Carnegie-Mellon University et al. v. Cohill, Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, et al.

Decided January 20, 1988. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 86-1021 · 484 U.S. 343 (1988) · Cited 9,468 times

Holding

A federal district court has discretion under the doctrine of pendent jurisdiction to remand to state court a removed case upon a proper determination that retaining jurisdiction over the case would be inappropriate.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 5–3.

“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.

• United Mine Workers of America v. Gibbs · 383 U.S. 715 (1966)
• Thermtron Products, Inc. v. Hermansdorfer · 423 U.S. 336 (1976)
• Saint Paul Mercury Indemnity Co. v. Red Cab Co. · 303 U.S. 283 (1938)
• Hurn v. Oursler · 289 U.S. 238 (1933)
• Link v. Wabash Railroad · 370 U.S. 626 (1962)
• Steffel v. Thompson · 415 U.S. 452 (1974)
• United States v. American Trucking Associations · 310 U.S. 534 (1940)
• Rosado v. Wyman · 397 U.S. 397 (1970)
• American Fire & Casualty Co. v. Finn · 341 U.S. 6 (1951)
• United States v. Menasche · 348 U.S. 528 (1955)

Cited by

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

• Powerex Corp. v. Reliant Energy Services, Inc. · 551 U.S. 224 (2007)
• Royal Canin U. S. A. v. Wullschleger · 604 U.S. 22 (2025)
• Things Remembered, Inc. v. Petrarca · 516 U.S. 124 (1995)
• City of Chicago v. International College of Surgeons · 522 U.S. 156 (1997)
• Rockwell International Corp. v. United States · 549 U.S. 457 (2007)
• Osborn v. Haley · 549 U.S. 225 (2007)
• BP p.l.c. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore · 593 U.S. 230 (2021)
• Wisconsin Department of Corrections v. Schacht · 524 U.S. 381 (1998)
• Carlsbad Technology, Inc. v. HIF Bio, Inc. · 556 U.S. 635 (2009)
• Finley v. United States · 490 U.S. 545 (1989)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Thurgood Marshall’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1988). 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).