First English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Glendale v. County of Los Angeles, California

Decided June 9, 1987. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 85-1199 · 482 U.S. 304 (1987) · Cited 1,264 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 6–3.

“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.

• Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City · 473 U.S. 172 (1985)
• Agins v. City of Tiburon · 447 U.S. 255 (1980)
• Keystone Bituminous Coal Assn. v. DeBenedictis · 480 U.S. 470 (1987)
• Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City · 438 U.S. 104 (1978)
• MacDonald, Sommer & Frates v. Yolo County · 477 U.S. 340 (1986)
• Danforth v. United States · 308 U.S. 271 (1939)
• San Diego Gas & Electric Co. v. City of San Diego · 450 U.S. 621 (1981)
• Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon · 260 U.S. 393 (1922)
• United States v. Causby · 328 U.S. 256 (1946)
• United States v. General Motors Corp. · 323 U.S. 373 (1945)
• Kimball Laundry Co. v. United States · 338 U.S. 1 (1949)
• United States v. Dow · 357 U.S. 17 (1958)
• Loretto v. Teleprompter Manhattan CATV Corp. · 458 U.S. 419 (1982)
• Monongahela Navigation Co. v. United States · 148 U.S. 312 (1893)
• United States v. Petty Motor Co. · 327 U.S. 372 (1946)
• Jacobs v. United States · 290 U.S. 13 (1933)
• Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Assn., Inc. · 452 U.S. 264 (1981)
• Armstrong v. United States · 364 U.S. 40 (1960)
• Goldblatt v. Town of Hempstead · 369 U.S. 590 (1962)
• Andrus v. Allard · 444 U.S. 51 (1979)
• Kirby Forest Industries, Inc. v. United States · 467 U.S. 1 (1984)
• United States v. Dickinson · 331 U.S. 745 (1947)
• Hurley v. Kincaid · 285 U.S. 95 (1932)
• Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs. · 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
• Harlow v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 800 (1982)
• Rose v. Lundy · 455 U.S. 509 (1982)
• Dandridge v. Williams · 397 U.S. 471 (1970)
• Davis v. Scherer · 468 U.S. 183 (1984)
• Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn · 420 U.S. 469 (1975)
• Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. Chicago · 166 U.S. 226 (1897)

Cited by

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

• Knick v. Township of Scott · 588 U.S. 180 (2019)
• Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency · 535 U.S. 302 (2002)
• Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council · 505 U.S. 1003 (1992)
• City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Monterey, Ltd. · 526 U.S. 687 (1999)
• Preseault v. Interstate Commerce Commission · 494 U.S. 1 (1990)
• DeVillier v. Texas · 601 U.S. 285 (2024)
• Nollan v. California Coastal Commission · 483 U.S. 825 (1987)
• Lingle v. Chevron U. S. A. Inc. · 544 U.S. 528 (2005)
• Eastern Enterprises v. Apfel · 524 U.S. 498 (1998)
• Arkansas Game & Fish Commission v. United States · 568 U.S. 23 (2012)
• Pennell v. City of San Jose · 485 U.S. 1 (1988)
• Phillips v. Washington Legal Foundation · 524 U.S. 156 (1998)
• San Remo Hotel, L. P. v. City & County of San Francisco · 545 U.S. 323 (2005)

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).