Flast et al. v. Cohen, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, et al.

Decided June 10, 1968. Earl Warren delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 416 · 392 U.S. 83 (1968) · Cited 3,484 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 8–1.

“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.

• Massachusetts v. Mellon · 262 U.S. 447 (1923)
• Muskrat v. United States · 219 U.S. 346 (1911)
• Baker v. Carr · 369 U.S. 186 (1962)
• Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority · 297 U.S. 288 (1936)
• Barrows v. Jackson · 346 U.S. 249 (1953)
• Zemel v. Rusk · 381 U.S. 1 (1965)
• United States v. Butler · 297 U.S. 1 (1936)
• Doremus v. Board of Ed. of Hawthorne · 342 U.S. 429 (1952)
• United States v. Fruehauf · 365 U.S. 146 (1961)
• Aetna Life Insurance v. Haworth · 300 U.S. 227 (1937)
• Everson v. Board of Ed. of Ewing · 330 U.S. 1 (1947)
• United Public Workers of America v. Mitchell · 330 U.S. 75 (1947)
• Murdock v. Pennsylvania · 319 U.S. 105 (1943)
• Poe v. Ullman · 367 U.S. 497 (1961)
• Scripps-Howard Radio, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 316 U.S. 4 (1942)
• Chicago & Grand Trunk Railway Co. v. Wellman · 143 U.S. 339 (1892)
• Oklahoma v. United States Civil Service Commission · 330 U.S. 127 (1947)
• Veazie Bank v. Fenno · 75 U.S. 533 (1869)
• Raney v. Board of Education of Gould School District · 391 U.S. 443 (1968)
• Allen v. Grand Central Aircraft Co. · 347 U.S. 535 (1954)
• Griswold v. Connecticut · 381 U.S. 479 (1965)
• McGowan v. Maryland · 366 U.S. 420 (1961)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama Ex Rel. Patterson · 357 U.S. 449 (1958)
• Gibbons v. Ogden · 22 U.S. 1 (1824)
• Dombrowski v. Pfister · 380 U.S. 479 (1965)
• Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez · 372 U.S. 144 (1963)
• Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath · 341 U.S. 123 (1951)
• Marvin v. Trout · 199 U.S. 212 (1905)
• Marchetti v. United States · 390 U.S. 39 (1968)
• Green v. County School Board of New Kent County · 391 U.S. 430 (1968)

Cited by

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

• United States v. Richardson · 418 U.S. 166 (1974)
• Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. · 551 U.S. 587 (2007)
• Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc. · 454 U.S. 464 (1982)
• Schlesinger v. Reservists Committee to Stop the War · 418 U.S. 208 (1974)
• DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. Cuno · 547 U.S. 332 (2006)
• United States Parole Commission v. Geraghty · 445 U.S. 388 (1980)
• Barlow v. Collins · 397 U.S. 159 (1970)
• Jenkins v. McKeithen · 395 U.S. 411 (1969)
• Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, Inc. · 438 U.S. 59 (1978)
• Allen v. Wright · 468 U.S. 737 (1984)
• Federal Election Commission v. Akins · 524 U.S. 11 (1998)
• Moose Lodge No. 107 v. Irvis · 407 U.S. 163 (1972)
• Lewis v. Casey · 518 U.S. 343 (1996)
• Sierra Club v. Morton · 405 U.S. 727 (1972)
• Gilligan v. Morgan · 413 U.S. 1 (1973)
• Bowen v. Kendrick · 487 U.S. 589 (1988)
• City of Los Angeles v. Lyons · 461 U.S. 95 (1983)
• Spencer v. Kemna · 523 U.S. 1 (1998)
• Franks v. Bowman Transportation Co. · 424 U.S. 747 (1976)
• Warth v. Seldin · 422 U.S. 490 (1975)
• Singleton v. Wulff · 428 U.S. 106 (1976)
• Simon v. Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights Organization · 426 U.S. 26 (1976)
• Sosna v. Iowa · 419 U.S. 393 (1975)
• Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency · 549 U.S. 497 (2007)
• Linda RS v. Richard D. · 410 U.S. 614 (1973)
• Hollingsworth v. Perry · 570 U.S. 693 (2013)
• Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez · 577 U.S. 153 (2016)
• United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 751 v. Brown Group, Inc. · 517 U.S. 544 (1996)
• United States v. Windsor · 570 U.S. 744 (2013)
• Microsoft Corp. v. Baker · 582 U.S. 23 (2017)

Official text

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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).