Fowler v. Rhode Island

Decided March 9, 1953. William Orville Douglas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 340 · 345 U.S. 67 (1953) · Cited 251 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 9–0.

“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.

• Davis v. Massachusetts · 167 U.S. 43 (1897)
• Reynolds v. United States · 98 U.S. 145 (1879)
• Niemotko v. Maryland · 340 U.S. 268 (1951)

Cited by

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

• Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah · 508 U.S. 520 (1993)
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan v. Acevedo Feliciano · 589 U.S. 57 (2020)
• Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Democratic National Committee · 412 U.S. 94 (1973)
• Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville · 422 U.S. 205 (1975)
• Welsh v. United States · 398 U.S. 333 (1970)
• Perry Education Ass'n v. Perry Local Educators' Ass'n · 460 U.S. 37 (1983)
• Sherbert v. Verner · 374 U.S. 398 (1963)
• Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith · 494 U.S. 872 (1990)
• Police Dept. of Chicago v. Mosley · 408 U.S. 92 (1972)
• Widmar v. Vincent · 454 U.S. 263 (1981)
• Epperson v. Arkansas · 393 U.S. 97 (1968)
• Johnson v. Robison · 415 U.S. 361 (1974)
• County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union · 492 U.S. 573 (1989)
• Lehman v. City of Shaker Heights · 418 U.S. 298 (1974)
• Gillette v. United States · 401 U.S. 437 (1971)
• Torcaso v. Watkins · 367 U.S. 488 (1961)
• Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Comm'n. · 605 U.S. 238 (2025)

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).