James Gomez and Daniel Vasquez v. United States District Court for the Northern District of California, et al.

Decided April 21, 1992. The Court ruled per curiam — an unsigned opinion of the Court.

Docket A-767 · 503 U.S. 653 (1992) · Cited 206 times

Holding

Congress has not waived the National Government’s sovereign immunity from liability for civil fines imposed by a State for past violations of the CWA or RCRA.

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.

• MacKey v. United States · 401 U.S. 667 (1971)
• Gregg v. Georgia · 428 U.S. 153 (1976)
• McCleskey v. Zant · 499 U.S. 467 (1991)
• Stanford v. Kentucky · 492 U.S. 361 (1989)
• Estelle v. Gamble · 429 U.S. 97 (1976)
• Teague v. Lane · 489 U.S. 288 (1989)
• Penry v. Lynaugh · 492 U.S. 302 (1989)
• Enmund v. Florida · 458 U.S. 782 (1982)
• Trop v. Dulles · 356 U.S. 86 (1958)
• Coker v. Georgia · 433 U.S. 584 (1977)
• Louisiana Ex Rel. Francis v. Resweber · 329 U.S. 459 (1947)
• Wilkerson v. Utah · 99 U.S. 130 (1879)

Cited by

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

• Lonchar v. Thomas · 517 U.S. 314 (1996)
• Baze v. Rees · 553 U.S. 35 (2008)
• Ramirez v. Collier · 595 U.S. 411 (2022)
• Bucklew v. Precythe · 587 U.S. 119 (2019)
• Nelson v. Campbell · 541 U.S. 637 (2004)
• Herrera v. Collins · 506 U.S. 390 (1993)
• Sawyer v. Whitley · 505 U.S. 333 (1992)
• Hill v. McDonough · 547 U.S. 573 (2006)
• Withrow v. Williams · 507 U.S. 680 (1993)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1992). 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).