City of Houston, Texas v. Hill

Decided June 15, 1987. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 86-243 · 482 U.S. 451 (1987) · Cited 1,428 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 8–1.

“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.

• Lewis v. City of New Orleans · 415 U.S. 130 (1974)
• Gooding v. Wilson · 405 U.S. 518 (1972)
• Dombrowski v. Pfister · 380 U.S. 479 (1965)
• Colten v. Kentucky · 407 U.S. 104 (1972)
• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire · 315 U.S. 568 (1942)
• Railroad Comm'n of Tex. v. Pullman Co. · 312 U.S. 496 (1941)
• Kolender v. Lawson · 461 U.S. 352 (1983)
• Smith v. Goguen · 415 U.S. 566 (1974)
• Terminiello v. Chicago · 337 U.S. 1 (1949)
• Harman v. Forssenius · 380 U.S. 528 (1965)
• Broadrick v. Oklahoma · 413 U.S. 601 (1973)
• Wisconsin v. Constantineau · 400 U.S. 433 (1971)
• Baggett v. Bullitt · 377 U.S. 360 (1964)
• Bellotti v. Baird · 428 U.S. 132 (1976)
• Younger v. Harris · 401 U.S. 37 (1971)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Button · 371 U.S. 415 (1963)
• Babbitt v. United Farm Workers National Union · 442 U.S. 289 (1979)
• Brown Shoe Co. v. United States · 370 U.S. 294 (1962)
• Zwickler v. Koota · 389 U.S. 241 (1967)
• Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff · 467 U.S. 229 (1984)
• Brockett v. Spokane Arcades, Inc. · 472 U.S. 491 (1985)
• Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States · 424 U.S. 800 (1976)
• Hoffman Estates v. Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc. · 455 U.S. 489 (1982)
• Procunier v. Martinez · 416 U.S. 396 (1974)
• Steffel v. Thompson · 415 U.S. 452 (1974)
• New York v. Ferber · 458 U.S. 747 (1982)
• Commissioner v. Sunnen · 333 U.S. 591 (1948)
• Thornhill v. Alabama · 310 U.S. 88 (1940)
• Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville · 405 U.S. 156 (1972)
• Pennzoil Co. v. Texaco Inc. · 481 U.S. 1 (1987)

Cited by

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

• Hill v. Colorado · 530 U.S. 703 (2000)
• Massachusetts v. Oakes · 491 U.S. 576 (1989)
• Nieves v. Bartlett · 587 U.S. 391 (2019)
• Expressions Hair Design v. Schneiderman · 581 U.S. 37 (2017)
• R. A. v. v. City of St. Paul · 505 U.S. 377 (1992)
• Board of Trustees of State Univ. of NY v. Fox · 492 U.S. 469 (1989)
• Virginia v. Black · 538 U.S. 343 (2003)
• Osborne v. Ohio · 495 U.S. 103 (1990)
• Stenberg v. Carhart · 530 U.S. 914 (2000)
• Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona · 520 U.S. 43 (1997)
• City of Chicago v. Morales · 527 U.S. 41 (1999)
• United States v. Stevens · 559 U.S. 460 (2010)
• City of Lakewood v. Plain Dealer Publishing Co. · 486 U.S. 750 (1988)
• Boos v. Barry · 485 U.S. 312 (1988)
• Renne v. Geary · 501 U.S. 312 (1991)

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).