Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., et al. v. Nation Enterprises et al.

Decided May 20, 1985. Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 83-1632 · 471 U.S. 539 (1985) · Cited 1,191 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 6–3.

“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.

• Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. · 464 U.S. 417 (1984)
• New York Times Co. v. United States · 403 U.S. 713 (1971)
• International News Service v. Associated Press · 248 U.S. 215 (1919)
• TWENTIETH CENTURY MUSIC CORP. Et Al. v. AIKEN · 422 U.S. 151 (1975)
• Garrison v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 64 (1964)
• Zacchini v. Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co. · 433 U.S. 562 (1977)
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. · 418 U.S. 323 (1974)
• Wooley v. Maynard · 430 U.S. 705 (1977)
• Mazer v. Stein · 347 U.S. 201 (1954)
• Federal Election Commission v. National Conservative Political Action Committee · 470 U.S. 480 (1985)
• Sheldon v. Metro-Goldwyn Pictures Corp. · 309 U.S. 390 (1940)
• Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony · 111 U.S. 53 (1884)
• Wheaton and Donaldson v. Peters and Grigg · 33 U.S. 591 (1834)
• Mills Music, Inc. v. Snyder · 469 U.S. 153 (1985)
• American Tobacco Co. v. Werckmeister · 207 U.S. 284 (1907)
• Lee v. Runge · 404 U.S. 887 (1971)

Cited by

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

• Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. · 510 U.S. 569 (1994)
• Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc. · 593 U.S. 1 (2021)
• Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. · 499 U.S. 340 (1991)
• Eldred v. Ashcroft · 537 U.S. 186 (2003)
• Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith · 598 U.S. 508 (2023)
• Stewart v. Abend · 495 U.S. 207 (1990)
• Bartnicki v. Vopper · 532 U.S. 514 (2001)
• Dowling v. United States · 473 U.S. 207 (1985)
• Heffernan v. City of Paterson · 578 U.S. 266 (2016)
• Georgia v. Public Resource.Org, Inc. · 590 U.S. 255 (2020)
• Riley v. National Federation of Blind of North Carolina, Inc. · 487 U.S. 781 (1988)
• Janus v. State, County, and Municipal Employees · 585 U.S. 878 (2018)
• San Francisco Arts & Athletics, Inc. v. United States Olympic Committee · 483 U.S. 522 (1987)
• Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Assn. · 544 U.S. 550 (2005)
• New York Times Co. v. Tasini · 533 U.S. 483 (2001)

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).