Heffernan v. City of Paterson, New Jersey

Decided April 26, 2016. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 14-1280 · 578 U.S. 266 (2016) · Cited 167 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 6–2.

“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.

• Waters v. Churchill · 511 U.S. 661 (1994)
• Garcetti v. Ceballos · 547 U.S. 410 (2006)
• Connick Ex Rel. Parish of Orleans v. Myers · 461 U.S. 138 (1983)
• Branti v. Finkel · 445 U.S. 507 (1980)
• Elrod v. Burns · 427 U.S. 347 (1976)
• United States Civil Service Commission v. National Ass'n of Letter Carriers · 413 U.S. 548 (1973)
• Pickering v. Board of Ed. of Township High School Dist. 205, Will Cty. · 391 U.S. 563 (1968)
• Delaware v. Prouse · 440 U.S. 648 (1979)
• District of Columbia v. Heller · 554 U.S. 570 (2008)
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
• Blessing v. Freestone · 520 U.S. 329 (1997)
• Gooding v. Wilson · 405 U.S. 518 (1972)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• Rutan v. Republican Party of Illinois · 497 U.S. 62 (1990)
• Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enterprises · 471 U.S. 539 (1985)
• City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Monterey, Ltd. · 526 U.S. 687 (1999)
• Lexmark Int'l, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc. · 572 U.S. 118 (2014)

Cited by

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

• Nieves v. Bartlett · 587 U.S. 391 (2019)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Stephen Gerald Breyer’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

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).