Janet Reno, Attorney General v. Bossier Parish School Board et al.

Decided May 12, 1997. Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 95-1455 · 520 U.S. 471 (1997) · Cited 215 times

Holding

The trial court’s action in this case was not “plain error” of the sort which an appellate court may notice under Rule 52(b).

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.

• Beer v. United States · 425 U.S. 130 (1976)
• White v. Regester · 412 U.S. 755 (1973)
• Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. · 429 U.S. 252 (1977)
• City of Mobile v. Bolden · 446 U.S. 55 (1980)
• City of Lockhart v. United States · 460 U.S. 125 (1983)
• Holder v. Hall · 512 U.S. 874 (1994)
• South Carolina v. Katzenbach · 383 U.S. 301 (1966)
• Shaw v. Hunt · 517 U.S. 899 (1996)
• Thornburg v. Gingles · 478 U.S. 30 (1986)
• Miller v. Johnson · 515 U.S. 900 (1995)
• Johnson v. De Grandy · 512 U.S. 997 (1994)
• Gomillion v. Lightfoot · 364 U.S. 339 (1960)
• Shaw v. Reno · 509 U.S. 630 (1993)
• Rogers v. Lodge · 458 U.S. 613 (1982)
• City of Rome v. United States · 446 U.S. 156 (1980)
• Presley v. Etowah County Commission · 502 U.S. 491 (1992)
• Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. · 509 U.S. 579 (1993)
• Pierce v. Underwood · 487 U.S. 552 (1988)
• Washington v. Davis · 426 U.S. 229 (1976)
• Elkins v. United States · 364 U.S. 206 (1960)
• Kentucky Department of Corrections v. Thompson · 490 U.S. 454 (1989)
• Allen v. State Board of Elections · 393 U.S. 544 (1969)
• United States v. Price · 361 U.S. 304 (1960)
• Chisom v. Roemer · 501 U.S. 380 (1991)
• Growe v. Emison · 507 U.S. 25 (1993)
• Fortson v. Dorsey · 379 U.S. 433 (1965)
• Voinovich v. Quilter · 507 U.S. 146 (1993)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Pangilinan · 486 U.S. 875 (1988)
• Georgia v. United States · 411 U.S. 526 (1973)
• Hedges v. Dixon County · 150 U.S. 182 (1893)

Cited by

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

• Allen v. Milligan · 599 U.S. 1 (2023)
• Reno v. Bossier Parish School Board · 528 U.S. 320 (2000)
• Georgia v. Ashcroft, Attorney General · 539 U.S. 461 (2003)
• Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama · 575 U.S. 254 (2015)
• Bartlett v. Strickland · 556 U.S. 1 (2009)
• Shelby County v. Holder · 570 U.S. 529 (2013)
• Abbott v. Perez · 585 U.S. 579 (2018)
• Amchem Products, Inc. v. Windsor · 521 U.S. 591 (1997)
• Hunt v. Cromartie · 526 U.S. 541 (1999)
• Olmstead v. L.C. · 527 U.S. 581 (1999)
• Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Holder · 557 U.S. 193 (2009)
• Abrams v. Johnson · 521 U.S. 74 (1997)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1997). 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).