Ed Plaut, et Ux., et al. v. Spendthrift Farm, Inc., et al.

Decided April 18, 1995. Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 93-1121 · 514 U.S. 211 (1995) · Cited 1,015 times

Holding

Section 27A(b) contravenes the Constitution's separation of powers to the extent that it requires federal courts to reopen final judgments entered before its enactment.

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 7–2.

“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.

• United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians · 448 U.S. 371 (1980)
• Landgraf v. USI Film Products · 511 U.S. 244 (1994)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Chadha · 462 U.S. 919 (1983)
• Rivers v. Roadway Express, Inc. · 511 U.S. 298 (1994)
• Lampf, Pleva, Lipkind, Prupis & Petigrow v. Gilbertson · 501 U.S. 350 (1991)
• Mistretta v. United States · 488 U.S. 361 (1989)
• United States v. Klein · 80 U.S. 128 (1872)
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Schor · 478 U.S. 833 (1986)
• Calder v. Bull · 3 U.S. 386 (1798)
• Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer · 343 U.S. 579 (1952)
• Chicago & Southern Air Lines, Inc. v. Waterman Steamship Corp. · 333 U.S. 103 (1948)
• United States v. Brown · 381 U.S. 437 (1965)
• Nixon v. Administrator of General Services · 433 U.S. 425 (1977)
• Hazel-Atlas Glass Co. v. Hartford-Empire Co. · 322 U.S. 238 (1944)
• Smith v. Robinson · 468 U.S. 992 (1984)
• Chase Securities Corp. v. Donaldson · 325 U.S. 304 (1945)
• Brecht v. Abrahamson · 507 U.S. 619 (1993)
• Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill · 470 U.S. 532 (1985)
• United States v. Nixon · 418 U.S. 683 (1974)
• Meachum v. Fano · 427 U.S. 215 (1976)
• Griffith v. Kentucky · 479 U.S. 314 (1987)
• Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority · 297 U.S. 288 (1936)
• Herrera v. Collins · 506 U.S. 390 (1993)
• Chevron Oil Co. v. Huson · 404 U.S. 97 (1971)
• Liljeberg v. Health Services Acquisition Corp. · 486 U.S. 847 (1988)
• Collins v. Youngblood · 497 U.S. 37 (1990)
• Crowell v. Benson · 285 U.S. 22 (1932)
• Freytag v. Commissioner · 501 U.S. 868 (1991)
• Concrete Pipe & Products of Cal., Inc. v. Construction Laborers Pension Trust for Southern Cal. · 508 U.S. 602 (1993)
• A. L. A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States · 295 U.S. 495 (1935)

Cited by

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

• Bank Markazi v. Peterson · 578 U.S. 212 (2016)
• Miller v. French · 530 U.S. 327 (2000)
• Wellness Int'l Network, Ltd. v. Sharif · 575 U.S. 665 (2015)
• Kisor v. Wilkie · 588 U.S. 558 (2019)
• Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Assn. · 575 U.S. 92 (2015)
• City of Arlington v. Fed. Commc'ns Comm'n · 569 U.S. 290 (2013)
• Gundy v. United States · 588 U.S. 128 (2019)
• B&B Hardware, Inc. v. Hargis Industries, Inc. · 575 U.S. 138 (2015)
• Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · 591 U.S. 197 (2020)
• Printz v. United States · 521 U.S. 898 (1997)
• Gonzalez v. Crosby · 545 U.S. 524 (2005)
• Clinton v. Jones · 520 U.S. 681 (1997)
• Semtek International Inc. v. Lockheed Martin Corp. · 531 U.S. 497 (2001)
• Tennessee v. Lane · 541 U.S. 509 (2004)
• Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation v. Environmental Protection Agency · 540 U.S. 461 (2004)
• Republican Party of Minnesota v. White · 536 U.S. 765 (2002)
• Jones v. Hendrix · 599 U.S. 465 (2023)
• United States v. Rahimi · 602 U.S. 680 (2024)
• Loving v. United States · 517 U.S. 748 (1996)
• Stogner v. California · 539 U.S. 607 (2003)
• Salazar v. Buono · 559 U.S. 700 (2010)
• Nguyen v. United States · 539 U.S. 69 (2003)
• Ayestas v. Davis · 584 U.S. 28 (2018)
• SEC v. Jarkesy · 603 U.S. 109 (2024)
• Ortiz v. United States · 585 U.S. 427 (2018)

Official text

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

Explore from here

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1995). 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).