Ellis Gregory, Jr. and Anthony P. Nugent, Jr., Judges v. John D. Ashcroft, Governor of Missouri

Decided June 20, 1991. Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 90-50 · 501 U.S. 452 (1991) · Cited 1,325 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 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.

• Sugarman v. Dougall · 413 U.S. 634 (1973)
• Bowen v. Georgetown University Hospital · 488 U.S. 204 (1988)
• Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority · 469 U.S. 528 (1985)
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Wyoming · 460 U.S. 226 (1983)
• Vance v. Bradley · 440 U.S. 93 (1979)
• Atascadero State Hospital v. Scanlon · 473 U.S. 234 (1985)
• Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman · 451 U.S. 1 (1981)
• Massachusetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia · 427 U.S. 307 (1976)
• South Carolina v. Baker · 485 U.S. 505 (1988)
• Bernal v. Fainter · 467 U.S. 216 (1984)
• Will v. Michigan Department of State Police · 491 U.S. 58 (1989)
• City of Rome v. United States · 446 U.S. 156 (1980)
• Foley v. Connelie · 435 U.S. 291 (1978)
• Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · 467 U.S. 837 (1984)
• Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer · 427 U.S. 445 (1976)
• Graham v. Richardson · 403 U.S. 365 (1971)
• Oscar Mayer & Co. v. Evans · 441 U.S. 750 (1979)
• Oregon v. Mitchell · 400 U.S. 112 (1970)
• Massachusetts v. Morash · 490 U.S. 107 (1989)
• Ambach v. Norwick · 441 U.S. 68 (1979)
• Cabell v. Chavez-Salido · 454 U.S. 432 (1982)
• In Re Duncan · 139 U.S. 449 (1891)
• Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman · 465 U.S. 89 (1984)
• City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc. · 473 U.S. 432 (1985)
• Dandridge v. Williams · 397 U.S. 471 (1970)
• Griggs v. Duke Power Co. · 401 U.S. 424 (1971)
• Pilot Life Insurance v. Dedeaux · 481 U.S. 41 (1987)
• Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp. · 331 U.S. 218 (1947)
• Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Thurston · 469 U.S. 111 (1985)
• Fidelity Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. De La Cuesta · 458 U.S. 141 (1982)

Cited by

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

• Wyeth v. Levine · 555 U.S. 555 (2009)
• New York v. United States · 505 U.S. 144 (1992)
• Evans v. United States · 504 U.S. 255 (1992)
• City of Edmonds v. Oxford House, Inc. · 514 U.S. 725 (1995)
• United States v. Lopez · 514 U.S. 549 (1995)
• Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents · 528 U.S. 62 (2000)
• Bond v. United States · 572 U.S. 844 (2014)
• Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Comm'n · 576 U.S. 787 (2015)
• Pennsylvania Department of Corrections v. Yeskey · 524 U.S. 206 (1998)
• Salinas v. United States · 522 U.S. 52 (1997)
• BFP v. Resolution Trust Corporation · 511 U.S. 531 (1994)
• Hilton v. South Carolina Public Railways Commission · 502 U.S. 197 (1991)
• Raygor v. Regents of the University of Minnesota · 534 U.S. 533 (2002)
• Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Ariz., Inc. · 570 U.S. 1 (2013)
• Chandler v. Miller · 520 U.S. 305 (1997)
• City of Columbus v. Ours Garage & Wrecker Service, Inc. · 536 U.S. 424 (2002)
• Nixon v. Missouri Municipal League · 541 U.S. 125 (2004)
• Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida · 517 U.S. 44 (1996)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. St. Cyr · 533 U.S. 289 (2001)
• Allied-Bruce Terminix Cos., Inc. v. Dobson · 513 U.S. 265 (1995)
• United States v. Morrison · 529 U.S. 598 (2000)
• Hollingsworth v. Perry · 570 U.S. 693 (2013)
• Gonzales v. Oregon · 546 U.S. 243 (2006)
• Shelby County v. Holder · 570 U.S. 529 (2013)
• McDonnell v. United States · 579 U.S. 550 (2016)
• United States v. Comstock · 560 U.S. 126 (2010)
• Gamble v. United States · 587 U.S. 678 (2019)
• Cuomo v. Clearing House Ass'n, LLC · 557 U.S. 519 (2009)
• Ocasio v. United States · 578 U.S. 282 (2016)
• United States v. Kebodeaux · 570 U.S. 387 (2013)

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).