City of Memphis et al. v. Greene et al.

Decided April 20, 1981. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 79-1176 · 451 U.S. 100 (1981) · Cited 182 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.

• Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. · 392 U.S. 409 (1968)
• Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. · 429 U.S. 252 (1977)
• Palmer v. Thompson · 403 U.S. 217 (1971)
• Sullivan v. Little Hunting Park, Inc. · 396 U.S. 229 (1969)
• Watson v. City of Memphis · 373 U.S. 526 (1963)
• Runyon v. McCrary · 427 U.S. 160 (1976)
• Hurd v. Hodge · 334 U.S. 24 (1948)
• Tillman v. Wheaton-Haven Recreation Assn., Inc. · 410 U.S. 431 (1973)
• Washington v. Davis · 426 U.S. 229 (1976)
• Plessy v. Ferguson · 163 U.S. 537 (1896)
• Civil Rights Cases · 109 U.S. 3 (1883)
• Clyatt v. United States · 197 U.S. 207 (1905)
• Payton v. New York · 445 U.S. 573 (1980)
• Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe · 401 U.S. 402 (1971)
• Brown v. Board of Education · 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
• Griffin v. Breckenridge · 403 U.S. 88 (1971)
• Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority · 365 U.S. 715 (1961)
• United States v. Price · 383 U.S. 787 (1966)
• Cooper v. Aaron · 358 U.S. 1 (1958)
• Railway Express Agency, Inc. v. New York · 336 U.S. 106 (1949)
• Reitman v. Mulkey · 387 U.S. 369 (1967)
• Buchanan v. Warley · 245 U.S. 60 (1916)
• Thomas Cusack Co. v. City of Chicago · 242 U.S. 526 (1917)
• Pollock v. Williams · 322 U.S. 4 (1944)

Cited by

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

• General Building Contractors Assn., Inc. v. Pennsylvania · 458 U.S. 375 (1982)
• Patterson v. McLean Credit Union · 491 U.S. 164 (1989)

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).