Connick, District Attorney in and for the Parish of Orleans, Louisiana v. Myers

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

Docket 81-1251 · 461 U.S. 138 (1983) · Cited 5,562 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.

• Pickering v. Board of Ed. of Township High School Dist. 205, Will Cty. · 391 U.S. 563 (1968)
• Givhan v. Western Line Consolidated School District · 439 U.S. 410 (1979)
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District · 393 U.S. 503 (1969)
• Perry v. Sindermann · 408 U.S. 593 (1972)
• Keyishian v. Board of Regents of Univ. of State of NY · 385 U.S. 589 (1967)
• Time, Inc. v. Hill · 385 U.S. 374 (1967)
• Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · 429 U.S. 274 (1977)
• Arnett v. Kennedy · 416 U.S. 134 (1974)
• Garrison v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 64 (1964)
• Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn · 420 U.S. 469 (1975)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Claiborne Hardware Co. · 458 U.S. 886 (1982)
• Mills v. Alabama · 384 U.S. 214 (1966)
• Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. · 418 U.S. 323 (1974)
• Bishop v. Wood · 426 U.S. 341 (1976)
• Sherbert v. Verner · 374 U.S. 398 (1963)
• Thornhill v. Alabama · 310 U.S. 88 (1940)
• Branti v. Finkel · 445 U.S. 507 (1980)
• United Public Workers of America v. Mitchell · 330 U.S. 75 (1947)
• Ex Parte Curtis · 106 U.S. 371 (1882)
• Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth · 408 U.S. 564 (1972)
• Elrod v. Burns · 427 U.S. 347 (1976)
• Roth v. United States · 354 U.S. 476 (1957)
• Perry Education Ass'n v. Perry Local Educators' Ass'n · 460 U.S. 37 (1983)
• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire · 315 U.S. 568 (1942)
• New York v. Ferber · 458 U.S. 747 (1982)
• Cafeteria & Restaurant Workers Union, Local 473 v. McElroy · 367 U.S. 886 (1961)
• Cohen v. California · 403 U.S. 15 (1971)
• Shelton v. Tucker · 364 U.S. 479 (1960)
• Stromberg v. California · 283 U.S. 359 (1931)

Cited by

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

• Waters v. Churchill · 511 U.S. 661 (1994)
• Rankin v. McPherson · 483 U.S. 378 (1987)
• City of San Diego v. Roe · 543 U.S. 77 (2004)
• Garcetti v. Ceballos · 547 U.S. 410 (2006)
• Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri · 564 U.S. 379 (2011)
• Engquist v. Oregon Department of Agriculture · 553 U.S. 591 (2008)
• United States v. National Treasury Employees Union · 513 U.S. 454 (1995)
• Snyder v. Phelps · 562 U.S. 443 (2011)
• Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc. · 472 U.S. 749 (1985)
• Heffernan v. City of Paterson · 578 U.S. 266 (2016)
• Janus v. State, County, and Municipal Employees · 585 U.S. 878 (2018)
• Rutan v. Republican Party of Illinois · 497 U.S. 62 (1990)
• Board of Comm'rs, Wabaunsee Cty. v. Umbehr · 518 U.S. 668 (1996)
• Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc. · 466 U.S. 485 (1984)
• Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. · 473 U.S. 788 (1985)
• National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab · 489 U.S. 656 (1989)
• Boos v. Barry · 485 U.S. 312 (1988)
• O'CONNOR v. Ortega · 480 U.S. 709 (1987)
• Dolan v. City of Tigard · 512 U.S. 374 (1994)
• Walters v. National Assn. of Radiation Survivors · 473 U.S. 305 (1985)
• Republican Party of Minnesota v. White · 536 U.S. 765 (2002)
• Arkansas Writers' Project, Inc. v. Ragland · 481 U.S. 221 (1987)
• Federal Election Commission v. National Conservative Political Action Committee · 470 U.S. 480 (1985)
• Lozman v. Riviera Beach · 585 U.S. 87 (2018)
• Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic · 606 U.S. 357 (2025)
• Mahanoy Area School Dist. v. B. L. · 594 U.S. 180 (2021)

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).