Dole Food Company, et al. v. Gerardo Dennis Patrickson et al.

Decided April 22, 2003. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 01-593 · 538 U.S. 468 (2003) · Cited 464 times

Holding

Section 1367(d)’s application to claims brought against a State’s political subdivisions is constitutional.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“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.

• Nixon v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 731 (1982)
• K Mart Corp. v. Cartier, Inc. · 486 U.S. 281 (1988)
• Verlinden B. v. v. Central Bank of Nigeria · 461 U.S. 480 (1983)
• First National City Bank v. Banco Para El Comercio Exterior De Cuba · 462 U.S. 611 (1983)
• Spalding v. Vilas · 161 U.S. 483 (1896)
• Burnet v. Clark · 287 U.S. 410 (1932)
• Scheuer v. Rhodes · 416 U.S. 232 (1974)
• Pierson v. Ray · 386 U.S. 547 (1967)
• United States v. Nordic Village, Inc. · 503 U.S. 30 (1992)
• Williams v. Taylor · 529 U.S. 420 (2000)
• Mertens v. Hewitt Associates · 508 U.S. 248 (1993)
• United States v. Bestfoods · 524 U.S. 51 (1998)
• Keene Corp. v. United States · 508 U.S. 200 (1993)
• Republic of Argentina v. Weltover, Inc. · 504 U.S. 607 (1992)
• Mollan v. Torrance · 22 U.S. 537 (1824)
• Woods v. Interstate Realty Co. · 337 U.S. 535 (1949)
• Anderson v. Watt · 138 U.S. 694 (1891)

Cited by

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

• Republic of Austria v. Altmann · 541 U.S. 677 (2004)
• Jam v. International Finance Corp. · 586 U.S. 199 (2019)
• Watters v. Wachovia Bank, N. A. · 550 U.S. 1 (2007)
• Samantar v. Yousuf · 560 U.S. 305 (2010)
• Florida Department of Revenue v. Piccadilly Cafeterias, Inc. · 554 U.S. 33 (2008)
• Republic of Philippines v. Pimentel · 553 U.S. 851 (2008)
• Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela v. Helmerich & Payne Int'l Drilling Co. · 581 U.S. 170 (2017)
• Dewberry Group, Inc. v. Dewberry Engineers Inc. · 604 U.S. 321 (2025)
• Agency for Int'l Development v. Alliance for Open Society · 591 U.S. 430 (2020)
• Powerex Corp. v. Reliant Energy Services, Inc. · 551 U.S. 224 (2007)
• United States ex rel. Eisenstein v. City of New York · 556 U.S. 928 (2009)
• Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S. v. United States · 598 U.S. 264 (2023)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2003). 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).