Church of Scientology of California v. United States and Frank S. Zolin

Decided November 16, 1992. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 91-946 · 506 U.S. 9 (1992) · Cited 1,710 times

Holding

Compliance with the summons enforcement order did not moot the Church's appeal.

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 9–0.

“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.

• United States v. Zolin · 491 U.S. 554 (1989)
• Mills v. Green · 159 U.S. 651 (1895)
• Reisman v. Caplin · 375 U.S. 440 (1964)
• Perlman v. United States · 247 U.S. 7 (1918)
• United States v. Powell · 379 U.S. 48 (1964)
• Preiser v. Newkirk · 422 U.S. 395 (1975)
• North Carolina v. Rice · 404 U.S. 244 (1971)
• United States v. Morton Salt Co. · 338 U.S. 632 (1950)
• Donaldson v. United States · 400 U.S. 517 (1971)
• G. M. Leasing Corp. v. United States · 429 U.S. 338 (1977)
• United States v. Ryan · 402 U.S. 530 (1971)

Cited by

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

• Chafin v. Chafin · 568 U.S. 165 (2013)
• Mohawk Industries, Inc. v. Carpenter · 558 U.S. 100 (2009)
• Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski · 592 U.S. 279 (2021)
• Calderon v. Moore · 518 U.S. 149 (1996)
• Behrens v. Pelletier · 516 U.S. 299 (1996)
• Northeastern Florida Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America v. City of Jacksonville · 508 U.S. 656 (1993)
• City of Erie v. Pap's A. M. · 529 U.S. 277 (2000)
• Knox v. Service Employees International Union, Local 1000 · 567 U.S. 298 (2012)

Official text

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

Explore from here

John Paul Stevens’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1992). 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).