Defunis et al. v. Odegaard et al.

Decided April 23, 1974. The Court ruled per curiam — an unsigned opinion of the Court.

Docket 73-235 · 416 U.S. 312 (1974) · Cited 1,220 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.

• Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education · 402 U.S. 1 (1971)
• Hughes v. Superior Court of Cal. for Contra Costa Cty. · 339 U.S. 460 (1950)
• Roe v. Wade · 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
• Sibron v. New York · 392 U.S. 40 (1968)
• United States v. W. T. Grant Co. · 345 U.S. 629 (1953)
• Loving v. Virginia · 388 U.S. 1 (1967)
• North Carolina v. Rice · 404 U.S. 244 (1971)
• United States v. Concentrated Phosphate Export Assn., Inc. · 393 U.S. 199 (1968)
• Korematsu v. United States · 323 U.S. 214 (1945)
• United States v. Trans-Missouri Freight Assn. · 166 U.S. 290 (1897)
• Gray v. Sanders · 372 U.S. 368 (1963)
• Ex Parte Endo · 323 U.S. 283 (1945)
• Walling v. Helmerich & Payne, Inc. · 323 U.S. 37 (1944)
• Sweatt v. Painter · 339 U.S. 629 (1950)
• Brown v. Board of Education · 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
• Yick Wo v. Hopkins · 118 U.S. 356 (1886)
• Griggs v. Duke Power Co. · 401 U.S. 424 (1971)
• Flast v. Cohen · 392 U.S. 83 (1968)
• Powell v. McCormack · 395 U.S. 486 (1969)
• Aetna Life Insurance v. Haworth · 300 U.S. 227 (1937)
• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire · 315 U.S. 568 (1942)
• Maryland Casualty Co. v. Pacific Coal & Oil Co. · 312 U.S. 270 (1941)
• Cohens v. Virginia · 19 U.S. 264 (1821)
• United States v. Munsingwear, Inc. · 340 U.S. 36 (1950)
• Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections · 383 U.S. 663 (1966)
• Schware v. Board of Bar Examiners of NM · 353 U.S. 232 (1957)
• Golden v. Zwickler · 394 U.S. 103 (1969)
• Plessy v. Ferguson · 163 U.S. 537 (1896)
• Hirabayashi v. United States · 320 U.S. 81 (1943)
• Hall v. Beals · 396 U.S. 45 (1969)

Cited by

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

• County of Los Angeles v. Davis · 440 U.S. 625 (1979)
• Regents of the University of California v. Bakke · 438 U.S. 265 (1978)
• Fullilove v. Klutznick · 448 U.S. 448 (1980)
• Asarco Inc. v. Kadish · 490 U.S. 605 (1989)
• Kremens v. Bartley · 431 U.S. 119 (1977)
• Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin · 570 U.S. 297 (2013)
• United States Parole Commission v. Geraghty · 445 U.S. 388 (1980)
• Grutter v. Bollinger · 539 U.S. 306 (2003)
• Iron Arrow Honor Society v. Heckler · 464 U.S. 67 (1983)
• Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc. · 528 U.S. 167 (2000)
• City of Los Angeles v. Lyons · 461 U.S. 95 (1983)
• Craig v. Boren · 429 U.S. 190 (1976)
• Frisby v. Schultz · 487 U.S. 474 (1988)
• City of Richmond v. J. A. Croson Co. · 488 U.S. 469 (1989)
• Deposit Guaranty National Bank v. Roper · 445 U.S. 326 (1980)
• Illinois State Board of Elections v. Socialist Workers Party · 440 U.S. 173 (1979)
• Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education · 476 U.S. 267 (1986)
• Washington v. Washington State Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel Assn. · 443 U.S. 658 (1979)
• Firefighters Local Union No. 1784 v. Stotts · 467 U.S. 561 (1984)
• Gratz v. Bollinger · 539 U.S. 244 (2003)
• Vieth v. Jubelirer · 541 U.S. 267 (2004)
• Alvarez v. Smith · 558 U.S. 87 (2009)
• Christian Legal Soc. Chapter of Univ. of Cal., Hastings College of Law v. Martinez · 561 U.S. 661 (2010)
• Massachusetts v. Oakes · 491 U.S. 576 (1989)
• Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College · 600 U.S. 181 (2023)
• United States v. Juvenile Male · 564 U.S. 261 (2011)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

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).