City of Richmond v. J. a. Croson Company

Decided January 23, 1989. Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 87-998 · 488 U.S. 469 (1989) · Cited 1,149 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.

• Fullilove v. Klutznick · 448 U.S. 448 (1980)
• Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education · 476 U.S. 267 (1986)
• Regents of the University of California v. Bakke · 438 U.S. 265 (1978)
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States · 431 U.S. 324 (1977)
• United States v. Paradise · 480 U.S. 149 (1987)
• Katzenbach v. Morgan · 384 U.S. 641 (1966)
• Hazelwood School District v. United States · 433 U.S. 299 (1977)
• Ex Parte Virginia · 100 U.S. 339 (1880)
• Bazemore v. Friday · 478 U.S. 385 (1986)
• Johnson v. Transportation Agency, Santa Clara Cty. · 480 U.S. 616 (1987)
• Norwood v. Harrison · 413 U.S. 455 (1973)
• McDaniel v. Barresi · 402 U.S. 39 (1971)
• San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez · 411 U.S. 1 (1973)
• United Steelworkers of America v. Weber · 443 U.S. 193 (1979)
• Local 28 of the Sheet Metal Workers' International Ass'n v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission · 478 U.S. 421 (1986)
• Columbus Board of Education v. Penick · 443 U.S. 449 (1979)
• City of Richmond v. United States · 422 U.S. 358 (1975)
• City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc. · 473 U.S. 432 (1985)
• Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education · 402 U.S. 1 (1971)
• Craig v. Boren · 429 U.S. 190 (1976)
• Shelley v. Kraemer · 334 U.S. 1 (1948)
• City of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc. · 475 U.S. 41 (1986)
• Green v. County School Board of New Kent County · 391 U.S. 430 (1968)
• South Carolina v. Katzenbach · 383 U.S. 301 (1966)
• Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld · 420 U.S. 636 (1975)
• New York State Club Assn., Inc. v. City of New York · 487 U.S. 1 (1988)
• Milliken v. Bradley · 418 U.S. 717 (1974)
• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission v. Mississippi · 456 U.S. 742 (1982)
• Lee v. Washington · 390 U.S. 333 (1968)
• North Carolina State Board of Education v. Swann · 402 U.S. 43 (1971)

Cited by

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

• Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 497 U.S. 547 (1990)
• Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 · 551 U.S. 701 (2007)
• Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena · 515 U.S. 200 (1995)
• Grutter v. Bollinger · 539 U.S. 306 (2003)
• Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College · 600 U.S. 181 (2023)
• Shaw v. Reno · 509 U.S. 630 (1993)
• Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin · 570 U.S. 297 (2013)
• Bush v. Vera · 517 U.S. 952 (1996)
• Miller v. Johnson · 515 U.S. 900 (1995)
• Ricci v. DeStefano · 557 U.S. 557 (2009)
• Northeastern Florida Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America v. City of Jacksonville · 508 U.S. 656 (1993)
• Gratz v. Bollinger · 539 U.S. 244 (2003)
• New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. City of New York · 590 U.S. 336 (2020)
• Bartlett v. Strickland · 556 U.S. 1 (2009)
• Johnson v. De Grandy · 512 U.S. 997 (1994)
• Johnson v. California · 543 U.S. 499 (2005)
• Missouri v. Jenkins · 515 U.S. 70 (1995)
• Ward v. Rock Against Racism · 491 U.S. 781 (1989)
• Olmstead v. L.C. · 527 U.S. 581 (1999)
• United States v. Fordice · 505 U.S. 717 (1992)
• Landgraf v. USI Film Products · 511 U.S. 244 (1994)
• Hernandez v. New York · 500 U.S. 352 (1991)
• Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins · 490 U.S. 228 (1989)
• Board of Trustees of Univ. of Ala. v. Garrett · 531 U.S. 356 (2001)
• Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio · 490 U.S. 642 (1989)
• Clinton v. City of New York · 524 U.S. 417 (1998)
• Webster v. Reproductive Health Services · 492 U.S. 490 (1989)
• Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC · 528 U.S. 377 (2000)
• League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry · 548 U.S. 399 (2006)
• Ramos v. Louisiana · 590 U.S. 83 (2020)

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).