City of Los Angeles v. Lyons

Decided April 20, 1983. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 81-1064 · 461 U.S. 95 (1983) · Cited 5,797 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 5–4.

“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.

• O'Shea v. Littleton · 414 U.S. 488 (1974)
• Rizzo v. Goode · 423 U.S. 362 (1976)
• Golden v. Zwickler · 394 U.S. 103 (1969)
• Younger v. Harris · 401 U.S. 37 (1971)
• Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs. · 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
• Ashcroft v. Mattis · 431 U.S. 171 (1977)
• Allee v. Medrano · 416 U.S. 802 (1974)
• Warth v. Seldin · 422 U.S. 490 (1975)
• Flast v. Cohen · 392 U.S. 83 (1968)
• Jenkins v. McKeithen · 395 U.S. 411 (1969)
• Baker v. Carr · 369 U.S. 186 (1962)
• Simon v. Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights Organization · 426 U.S. 26 (1976)
• Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · 403 U.S. 388 (1971)
• Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc. · 454 U.S. 464 (1982)
• Bell v. Hood · 327 U.S. 678 (1946)
• Steffel v. Thompson · 415 U.S. 452 (1974)
• Haguer v. Committee for Industrial Organization · 307 U.S. 496 (1939)
• Linda R. S. v. Richard D. · 410 U.S. 614 (1973)
• Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, Inc. · 438 U.S. 59 (1978)
• Brown v. Chote · 411 U.S. 452 (1973)
• Polk County v. Dodson · 454 U.S. 312 (1981)
• Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody · 422 U.S. 405 (1975)
• Aetna Life Insurance v. Haworth · 300 U.S. 227 (1937)
• United States v. W. T. Grant Co. · 345 U.S. 629 (1953)
• Maryland Casualty Co. v. Pacific Coal & Oil Co. · 312 U.S. 270 (1941)
• Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education · 402 U.S. 1 (1971)
• Eisenstadt v. Baird · 405 U.S. 438 (1972)
• County of Los Angeles v. Davis · 440 U.S. 625 (1979)
• Gladstone, Realtors v. Village of Bellwood · 441 U.S. 91 (1979)
• Massachusetts v. Mellon · 262 U.S. 447 (1923)

Cited by

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

• Summers v. Earth Island Institute · 555 U.S. 488 (2009)
• Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc. · 528 U.S. 167 (2000)
• Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife · 504 U.S. 555 (1992)
• Allen v. Wright · 468 U.S. 737 (1984)
• Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. · 551 U.S. 449 (2007)
• Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Environment · 523 U.S. 83 (1998)
• Honig v. Doe · 484 U.S. 305 (1988)
• County of Riverside v. McLaughlin · 500 U.S. 44 (1991)
• Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins · 578 U.S. 330 (2016)
• Whitmore Ex Rel. Simmons v. Arkansas · 495 U.S. 149 (1990)
• City of Los Angeles v. Heller · 475 U.S. 796 (1986)
• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission · 558 U.S. 310 (2010)
• Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency · 549 U.S. 497 (2007)
• Davis v. Federal Election Commission · 554 U.S. 724 (2008)
• Department of Commerce v. New York · 588 U.S. 752 (2019)
• Town of Chester v. Laroe Estates, Inc. · 581 U.S. 433 (2017)
• Gratz v. Bollinger · 539 U.S. 244 (2003)
• Spencer v. Kemna · 523 U.S. 1 (1998)
• DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. Cuno · 547 U.S. 332 (2006)
• Lewis v. Continental Bank Corp. · 494 U.S. 472 (1990)
• Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena · 515 U.S. 200 (1995)
• Chafin v. Chafin · 568 U.S. 165 (2013)
• Asarco Inc. v. Kadish · 490 U.S. 605 (1989)
• Murthy v. Missouri · 603 U.S. 43 (2024)
• Illinois v. Gates · 462 U.S. 213 (1983)
• Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · 555 U.S. 7 (2008)
• Tennessee v. Garner · 471 U.S. 1 (1985)
• TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez · 594 U.S. 413 (2021)
• Powers v. Ohio · 499 U.S. 400 (1991)
• Already, LLC v. Nike, Inc. · 568 U.S. 85 (2013)

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).