Illinois Ex Rel. McCollum v. Board of Education of School District No. 71, Champaign County, Illinois, et al.

Decided March 8, 1948. Hugo Lafayette Black delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 90 · 333 U.S. 203 (1948) · Cited 651 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 8–1.

“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.

• Everson v. Board of Ed. of Ewing · 330 U.S. 1 (1947)
• Reuben Quick Bear v. Leupp · 210 U.S. 50 (1908)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire · 315 U.S. 568 (1942)
• Prince v. Massachusetts · 321 U.S. 158 (1944)
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
• Reynolds v. United States · 98 U.S. 145 (1879)
• Helvering v. Clifford · 309 U.S. 331 (1940)
• Whitney v. California · 274 U.S. 357 (1927)
• Cox v. New Hampshire · 312 U.S. 569 (1941)
• Commissioner v. Tower · 327 U.S. 280 (1946)
• Higgins v. Smith · 308 U.S. 473 (1940)
• Coleman v. Miller · 307 U.S. 433 (1939)
• Pennekamp v. Florida · 328 U.S. 331 (1946)
• Lusthaus v. Commissioner · 327 U.S. 293 (1946)
• VIDAL v. Girard's Executors · 43 U.S. 127 (1844)
• Hamilton v. Regents of the University of California · 293 U.S. 245 (1934)
• Cochran v. Louisiana State Board of Education · 281 U.S. 370 (1930)

Cited by

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

• Zorach v. Clauson · 343 U.S. 306 (1952)
• McGowan v. Maryland · 366 U.S. 420 (1961)
• Lynch v. Donnelly · 465 U.S. 668 (1984)
• Wallace v. Jaffree · 472 U.S. 38 (1985)
• Engel v. Vitale · 370 U.S. 421 (1962)
• Board of Ed. of Central School Dist. No. 1 v. Allen · 392 U.S. 236 (1968)
• Lemon v. Kurtzman · 403 U.S. 602 (1971)
• Board of Ed. of Westside Community Schools (Dist. 66) v. Mergens · 496 U.S. 226 (1990)
• School District of Grand Rapids v. Ball · 473 U.S. 373 (1985)
• District of Columbia v. Heller · 554 U.S. 570 (2008)
• Walz v. Tax Comm'n of City of New York · 397 U.S. 664 (1970)
• Epperson v. Arkansas · 393 U.S. 97 (1968)
• Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist · 413 U.S. 756 (1973)
• Welsh v. United States · 398 U.S. 333 (1970)
• Good News Club v. Milford Central School · 533 U.S. 98 (2001)
• Torcaso v. Watkins · 367 U.S. 488 (1961)
• Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue · 591 U.S. 464 (2020)
• Carson v. Makin · 596 U.S. 767 (2022)
• San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez · 411 U.S. 1 (1973)
• Thomas v. Review Board of the Indiana Employment Security Division · 450 U.S. 707 (1981)
• County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union · 492 U.S. 573 (1989)
• Lemon v. Kurtzman · 411 U.S. 192 (1973)
• Roemer v. Board of Public Works of Md. · 426 U.S. 736 (1976)
• Adler v. Board of Ed. of City of New York · 342 U.S. 485 (1952)
• McDaniel v. Paty · 435 U.S. 618 (1978)
• Aguilar v. Felton · 473 U.S. 402 (1985)
• Mitchell v. Helms · 530 U.S. 793 (2000)
• Flast v. Cohen · 392 U.S. 83 (1968)
• Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District · 393 U.S. 503 (1969)
• Perry Education Ass'n v. Perry Local Educators' Ass'n · 460 U.S. 37 (1983)

Official text

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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).