City of Canton, Ohio v. Harris et al.

Decided February 28, 1989. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 86-1088 · 489 U.S. 378 (1989) · Cited 10,043 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 6–3.

“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.

• Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs. · 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
• City of Oklahoma v. Tuttle · 471 U.S. 808 (1985)
• City of Springfield v. Kibbe · 480 U.S. 257 (1987)
• City of St. Louis v. Praprotnik · 485 U.S. 112 (1988)
• City of Revere v. Massachusetts General Hospital · 463 U.S. 239 (1983)
• Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati · 475 U.S. 469 (1986)
• Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co. · 398 U.S. 144 (1970)
• Rizzo v. Goode · 423 U.S. 362 (1976)
• Polk County v. Dodson · 454 U.S. 312 (1981)
• Tennessee v. Garner · 471 U.S. 1 (1985)
• City of Los Angeles v. Heller · 475 U.S. 796 (1986)
• Chapman v. Houston Welfare Rights Organization · 441 U.S. 600 (1979)

Cited by

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

• Board of the County Commissioners of Bryan County v. Brown · 520 U.S. 397 (1997)
• Farmer v. Brennan · 511 U.S. 825 (1994)
• Collins v. City of Harker Heights · 503 U.S. 115 (1992)
• County of Sacramento v. Lewis · 523 U.S. 833 (1998)
• Davis Ex Rel. LaShonda D. v. Monroe County Board of Education · 526 U.S. 629 (1999)
• Wilson v. Seiter · 501 U.S. 294 (1991)
• Leatherman v. Tarrant County Narcotics Intelligence and Coordination Unit · 507 U.S. 163 (1993)
• Jett v. Dallas Independent School District · 491 U.S. 701 (1989)
• Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School District · 524 U.S. 274 (1998)
• Hudson v. Michigan · 547 U.S. 586 (2006)
• Howlett Ex Rel. Howlett v. Rose · 496 U.S. 356 (1990)
• Izumi Seimitsu Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha v. U. S. Philips Corp. · 510 U.S. 27 (1993)

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).