Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc., et al. v. Volpe, Secretary of Transportation, et al.

Decided March 2, 1971. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 1066 · 401 U.S. 402 (1971) · Cited 7,564 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 6–2.

“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.

• Thorpe v. Housing Authority of Durham · 393 U.S. 268 (1969)
• United States v. Morgan · 313 U.S. 409 (1941)
• Conley v. Gibson · 355 U.S. 41 (1957)
• Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner · 387 U.S. 136 (1967)
• Securities & Exchange Commission v. Chenery Corp. · 318 U.S. 80 (1943)
• Burlington Truck Lines, Inc. v. United States · 371 U.S. 156 (1962)
• United States v. Chemical Foundation, Inc. · 272 U.S. 1 (1926)
• American Trucking Assns., Inc. v. United States · 344 U.S. 298 (1953)
• Schilling v. Rogers · 363 U.S. 666 (1960)
• Pacific States Box & Basket Co. v. White · 296 U.S. 176 (1935)
• Rusk v. Cort · 369 U.S. 367 (1962)
• Brownell v. Tom We Shung · 352 U.S. 180 (1956)
• City of Yonkers v. United States · 320 U.S. 685 (1944)

Cited by

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

• Department of Commerce v. New York · 588 U.S. 752 (2019)
• Marsh v. Oregon Natural Resources Council · 490 U.S. 360 (1989)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. · 556 U.S. 502 (2009)
• Heckler v. Chaney · 470 U.S. 821 (1985)
• Camp v. Pitts · 411 U.S. 138 (1973)
• Webster v. Doe · 486 U.S. 592 (1988)
• Metropolitan Life Insurance v. Glenn · 554 U.S. 105 (2008)
• National Ass'n of Home Builders v. Defenders of Wildlife · 551 U.S. 644 (2007)
• Schweiker v. Gray Panthers · 453 U.S. 34 (1981)
• Lincoln v. Vigil · 508 U.S. 182 (1993)
• Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Assn. · 575 U.S. 92 (2015)
• CBS, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 453 U.S. 367 (1981)
• Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Assn. of United States, Inc. v. State Farm Mut. Automobile Ins. Co. · 463 U.S. 29 (1983)
• Bowman Transportation, Inc. v. Arkansas-Best Freight System, Inc. · 419 U.S. 281 (1974)
• Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · 462 U.S. 87 (1983)
• Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton · 413 U.S. 49 (1973)
• Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation v. LTV Corp. · 496 U.S. 633 (1990)
• Japan Whaling Ass'n v. American Cetacean Society · 478 U.S. 221 (1986)
• Dunlop v. Bachowski · 421 U.S. 560 (1975)
• Jean v. Nelson · 472 U.S. 846 (1985)
• Federal Communications Commission v. National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting · 436 U.S. 775 (1978)
• Industrial Union Dept., AFL-CIO v. American Petroleum Institute · 448 U.S. 607 (1980)
• Verizon Communications Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 535 U.S. 467 (2002)
• Biden v. Texas · 597 U.S. 785 (2022)
• FDA v. Wages and White Lion Investments, LLC · 604 U.S. 542 (2025)
• Landgraf v. USI Film Products · 511 U.S. 244 (1994)
• Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. · 429 U.S. 252 (1977)
• Califano v. Sanders · 430 U.S. 99 (1977)
• Sierra Club v. Morton · 405 U.S. 727 (1972)
• Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · 435 U.S. 519 (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).