Hunter et al. v. Underwood et al.

Decided April 16, 1985. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 84-76 · 471 U.S. 222 (1985) · Cited 419 times

Holding

Section 182 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

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 8–0.

“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.

• Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. · 429 U.S. 252 (1977)
• Palmer v. Thompson · 403 U.S. 217 (1971)
• Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · 429 U.S. 274 (1977)
• United States v. O'Brien · 391 U.S. 367 (1968)
• Rogers v. Lodge · 458 U.S. 613 (1982)
• Richardson v. Ramirez · 418 U.S. 24 (1974)
• Washington v. Davis · 426 U.S. 229 (1976)
• Pullman-Standard v. Swint · 456 U.S. 273 (1982)
• Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County · 450 U.S. 464 (1981)

Cited by

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

• Abbott v. Perez · 585 U.S. 579 (2018)
• Shelby County v. Holder · 570 U.S. 529 (2013)
• City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc. · 473 U.S. 432 (1985)
• United States v. Armstrong · 517 U.S. 456 (1996)
• Snyder v. Louisiana · 552 U.S. 472 (2008)
• Bush v. Vera · 517 U.S. 952 (1996)
• McCleskey v. Kemp · 481 U.S. 279 (1987)
• Hernandez v. New York · 500 U.S. 352 (1991)
• Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins · 490 U.S. 228 (1989)
• Exxon Co., USA v. Sofec, Inc. · 517 U.S. 830 (1996)
• Riley v. Kennedy · 553 U.S. 406 (2008)
• Allen v. Milligan · 599 U.S. 1 (2023)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1985). 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).