Graham County Soil & Water Conservation District, et al. v. United States Ex Rel. Karen T. Wilson

Decided June 20, 2005. Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 04-169 · 545 U.S. 409 (2005) · Cited 282 times

Holding

Section 3731(b)(1)’s limitations period does not govern § 3730(h) retaliation actions.

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 7–2.

“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.

• Agency Holding Corp. v. Malley-Duff & Associates, Inc. · 483 U.S. 143 (1987)
• Vermont Agency of Natural Resources v. United States Ex Rel. Stevens · 529 U.S. 765 (2000)
• TRW Inc. v. Andrews · 534 U.S. 19 (2001)
• Leocal v. Ashcroft · 543 U.S. 1 (2004)
• Jones v. R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co. · 541 U.S. 369 (2004)
• Reiter v. Cooper · 507 U.S. 258 (1993)
• Bay Area Laundry & Dry Cleaning Pension Trust Fund v. Ferbar Corp. of California, Inc. · 522 U.S. 192 (1997)
• Johnson v. United States · 544 U.S. 295 (2005)
• Reed v. United Transportation Union · 488 U.S. 319 (1989)
• North Star Steel Co. v. Thomas · 515 U.S. 29 (1995)

Cited by

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

• Cochise Consultancy, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Hunt · 587 U.S. 262 (2019)
• Green v. Brennan · 578 U.S. 547 (2016)
• Corner Post, Inc. v. Board of Governors · 603 U.S. 799 (2024)
• Heimeshoff v. Hartford Life & Accident Ins. Co. · 571 U.S. 99 (2013)
• Rotkiske v. Klemm · 589 U.S. 8 (2019)
• SCA Hygiene Products Aktiebolag v. First Quality Baby Products, LLC · 580 U.S. 328 (2017)
• Luna Torres v. Lynch · 578 U.S. 452 (2016)
• Graham County Soil & Water Conservation District v. United States Ex Rel. Wilson · 559 U.S. 280 (2010)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Clarence Thomas’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2005). 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).