Franchise Tax Board of California v. United States Postal Service

Decided June 11, 1984. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 83-372 · 467 U.S. 512 (1984) · Cited 214 times

Holding

When administrative process of the type employed by appellant issues against appellee, it has been "sued" within the meaning of 401(1), and must respond to that process.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

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.

• Federal Housing Administration, Region No. 4 v. Burr · 309 U.S. 242 (1940)
• Keifer & Keifer v. Reconstruction Finance Corp. · 306 U.S. 381 (1939)
• California v. Grace Brethren Church · 457 U.S. 393 (1982)
• Hagar v. Reclamation District No. 108 · 111 U.S. 701 (1884)
• Reconstruction Finance Corporation v. JG Menihan Corp. · 312 U.S. 81 (1941)
• Federal Land Bank v. Priddy · 295 U.S. 229 (1935)
• Bull v. United States · 295 U.S. 247 (1935)
• Fair Assessment in Real Estate Assn., Inc. v. McNary · 454 U.S. 100 (1981)
• G. M. Leasing Corp. v. United States · 429 U.S. 338 (1977)
• Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Huffman · 319 U.S. 293 (1943)
• Rosewell v. LaSalle National Bank · 450 U.S. 503 (1981)
• United States v. Shaw · 309 U.S. 495 (1940)
• Petty v. Tennessee-Missouri Bridge Commission · 359 U.S. 275 (1959)
• Commissioner v. Shapiro · 424 U.S. 614 (1976)
• National City Bank of NY v. Republic of China · 348 U.S. 356 (1955)
• City of Detroit v. Murray Corp. of America · 355 U.S. 489 (1958)
• Brady v. Roosevelt Steamship Co. · 317 U.S. 575 (1943)
• United States v. Clark · 445 U.S. 23 (1980)
• Buchanan v. Alexander · 45 U.S. 20 (1845)

Cited by

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

• Loeffler v. Frank · 486 U.S. 549 (1988)
• Federal Deposit Insurance v. Meyer · 510 U.S. 471 (1994)
• Library of Congress v. Shaw · 478 U.S. 310 (1986)
• United States Postal Service v. Flamingo Industries (USA) Ltd. · 540 U.S. 736 (2004)
• MacKey v. Lanier Collection Agency & Service, Inc. · 486 U.S. 825 (1988)
• United States v. Nordic Village, Inc. · 503 U.S. 30 (1992)
• United States v. Kokinda · 497 U.S. 720 (1990)
• United States Department of Energy v. Ohio · 503 U.S. 607 (1992)

Official text

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

Explore from here

John Paul Stevens’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1984). 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).