David H. Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council

Decided June 29, 1992. Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 91-453 · 505 U.S. 1003 (1992) · Cited 2,333 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.

• Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon · 260 U.S. 393 (1922)
• Keystone Bituminous Coal Assn. v. DeBenedictis · 480 U.S. 470 (1987)
• Agins v. City of Tiburon · 447 U.S. 255 (1980)
• Goldblatt v. Town of Hempstead · 369 U.S. 590 (1962)
• Miller v. Schoene · 276 U.S. 272 (1928)
• Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City · 438 U.S. 104 (1978)
• First English Evangelical Lutheran Church v. County of Los Angeles · 482 U.S. 304 (1987)
• Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. · 272 U.S. 365 (1926)
• Loretto v. Teleprompter Manhattan CATV Corp. · 458 U.S. 419 (1982)
• Nollan v. California Coastal Commission · 483 U.S. 825 (1987)
• Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife · 504 U.S. 555 (1992)
• Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City · 473 U.S. 172 (1985)
• Kaiser Aetna v. United States · 444 U.S. 164 (1979)
• MacDonald, Sommer & Frates v. Yolo County · 477 U.S. 340 (1986)
• Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith · 494 U.S. 872 (1990)
• Andrus v. Allard · 444 U.S. 51 (1979)
• San Diego Gas & Electric Co. v. City of San Diego · 450 U.S. 621 (1981)
• O'Gorman & Young, Inc. v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co. · 282 U.S. 251 (1931)
• City of Oklahoma v. Tuttle · 471 U.S. 808 (1985)
• Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority · 297 U.S. 288 (1936)
• Prince v. Massachusetts · 321 U.S. 158 (1944)
• Ruckelshaus v. Monsanto Co. · 467 U.S. 986 (1984)
• Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Assn., Inc. · 452 U.S. 264 (1981)
• Armstrong v. United States · 364 U.S. 40 (1960)
• PruneYard Shopping Center v. Robins · 447 U.S. 74 (1980)
• Powell v. Pennsylvania · 127 U.S. 678 (1888)
• Omnia Commercial Co. v. United States · 261 U.S. 502 (1923)
• Bowditch v. Boston · 101 U.S. 16 (1880)
• Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth · 408 U.S. 564 (1972)
• Katz v. United States · 389 U.S. 347 (1967)

Cited by

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

• Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency · 535 U.S. 302 (2002)
• Palazzolo v. Rhode Island · 533 U.S. 606 (2001)
• Murr v. Wisconsin · 582 U.S. 383 (2017)
• Lingle v. Chevron U. S. A. Inc. · 544 U.S. 528 (2005)
• Horne v. Department of Agriculture · 576 U.S. 351 (2015)
• Knick v. Township of Scott · 588 U.S. 180 (2019)
• Kelo v. City of New London · 545 U.S. 469 (2005)
• Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid · 594 U.S. 139 (2021)
• City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Monterey, Ltd. · 526 U.S. 687 (1999)
• Eastern Enterprises v. Apfel · 524 U.S. 498 (1998)
• Johnson v. California · 543 U.S. 499 (2005)
• Phillips v. Washington Legal Foundation · 524 U.S. 156 (1998)
• Suitum v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency · 520 U.S. 725 (1997)
• Horne v. Department of Agriculture · 569 U.S. 513 (2013)
• Dolan v. City of Tigard · 512 U.S. 374 (1994)
• Bush v. Gore · 531 U.S. 98 (2000)
• Arkansas Game & Fish Commission v. United States · 568 U.S. 23 (2012)
• Concrete Pipe & Products of Cal., Inc. v. Construction Laborers Pension Trust for Southern Cal. · 508 U.S. 602 (1993)
• Northeastern Florida Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America v. City of Jacksonville · 508 U.S. 656 (1993)
• San Remo Hotel, L. P. v. City & County of San Francisco · 545 U.S. 323 (2005)
• Sheetz v. El Dorado County · 601 U.S. 267 (2024)

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).