Goldman v. Weinberger, Secretary of Defense, et al.

Decided March 25, 1986. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 84-1097 · 475 U.S. 503 (1986) · Cited 421 times

Holding

The First Amendment does not prohibit the challenged regulation from being applied to petitioner even though its effect is to restrict the wearing of the headgear required by his religious beliefs.

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 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.

• Chappell v. Wallace · 462 U.S. 296 (1983)
• Thomas v. Review Board of the Indiana Employment Security Division · 450 U.S. 707 (1981)
• Sherbert v. Verner · 374 U.S. 398 (1963)
• Parker v. Levy · 417 U.S. 733 (1974)
• Brown v. Glines · 444 U.S. 348 (1980)
• Wisconsin v. Yoder · 406 U.S. 205 (1972)
• Rostker v. Goldberg · 453 U.S. 57 (1981)
• Orloff v. Willoughby · 345 U.S. 83 (1953)
• United States v. Lee · 455 U.S. 252 (1982)
• Greer v. Spock · 424 U.S. 828 (1976)
• Schlesinger v. Councilman · 420 U.S. 738 (1975)
• Wallace v. Jaffree · 472 U.S. 38 (1985)
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
• Metromedia, Inc. v. City of San Diego · 453 U.S. 490 (1981)
• Korematsu v. United States · 323 U.S. 214 (1945)
• Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist · 413 U.S. 756 (1973)
• Gillette v. United States · 401 U.S. 437 (1971)

Cited by

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

• Cutter v. Wilkinson · 544 U.S. 709 (2005)
• Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith · 494 U.S. 872 (1990)
• County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union · 492 U.S. 573 (1989)
• Solorio v. United States · 483 U.S. 435 (1987)
• Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · 555 U.S. 7 (2008)
• Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah · 508 U.S. 520 (1993)
• United States v. Stanley · 483 U.S. 669 (1987)
• Bowen v. Roy · 476 U.S. 693 (1986)
• United States v. Johnson · 481 U.S. 681 (1987)
• Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock · 489 U.S. 1 (1989)
• Fulton v. Philadelphia · 593 U.S. 522 (2021)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1986). 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).