Federal Bureau of Investigation et al. v. Abramson

Decided May 24, 1982. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 80-1735 · 456 U.S. 615 (1982) · Cited 788 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.

• National Labor Relations Board v. Robbins Tire & Rubber Co. · 437 U.S. 214 (1978)
• Department of the Air Force v. Rose · 425 U.S. 352 (1976)
• Environmental Protection Agency v. Mink · 410 U.S. 73 (1973)
• Forsham v. Harris · 445 U.S. 169 (1980)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. · 421 U.S. 132 (1975)
• United States v. Wiltberger · 18 U.S. 76 (1820)
• United States v. Monia · 317 U.S. 424 (1943)
• Bread Political Action Committee v. Federal Election Commission · 455 U.S. 577 (1982)
• Consumer Product Safety Commission v. GTE Sylvania, Inc. · 447 U.S. 102 (1980)
• Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill · 437 U.S. 153 (1978)
• United States v. Brown · 333 U.S. 18 (1948)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Lion Oil Co. · 352 U.S. 282 (1957)

Cited by

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

• John Doe Agency v. John Doe Corp. · 493 U.S. 146 (1989)
• Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media · 588 U.S. 427 (2019)
• United States Department of Justice v. Tax Analysts · 492 U.S. 136 (1989)
• United States Department of Justice v. Landano · 508 U.S. 165 (1993)
• United States Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press · 489 U.S. 749 (1989)
• Public Citizen v. United States Department of Justice · 491 U.S. 440 (1989)
• United States Department of Justice v. Julian · 486 U.S. 1 (1988)
• Department of the Interior v. Klamath Water Users Protective Ass'n · 532 U.S. 1 (2001)
• Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T Inc. · 562 U.S. 397 (2011)
• Secretary of the Interior v. California · 464 U.S. 312 (1984)

Official text

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

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Byron Raymond White’s profile · 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).