Jennifer Gratz and Patrick Hamacher v. Lee Bollinger et al.

Decided June 23, 2003. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 02-516 · 539 U.S. 244 (2003) · Cited 444 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 6–3.

“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.

• Regents of the University of California v. Bakke · 438 U.S. 265 (1978)
• Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena · 515 U.S. 200 (1995)
• Blum v. Yaretsky · 457 U.S. 991 (1982)
• General Telephone Co. of Southwest v. Falcon · 457 U.S. 147 (1982)
• O'Shea v. Littleton · 414 U.S. 488 (1974)
• City of Richmond v. J. A. Croson Co. · 488 U.S. 469 (1989)
• City of Los Angeles v. Lyons · 461 U.S. 95 (1983)
• Northeastern Florida Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America v. City of Jacksonville · 508 U.S. 656 (1993)
• Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education · 476 U.S. 267 (1986)
• Warth v. Seldin · 422 U.S. 490 (1975)
• Brown v. Board of Education · 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
• Clements v. Fashing · 457 U.S. 957 (1982)
• Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife · 504 U.S. 555 (1992)
• Lewis v. Casey · 518 U.S. 343 (1996)
• Allen v. Wright · 468 U.S. 737 (1984)
• Simon v. Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights Organization · 426 U.S. 26 (1976)
• Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay · 437 U.S. 463 (1978)
• Alexander v. Sandoval · 532 U.S. 275 (2001)
• American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah · 414 U.S. 538 (1974)
• Sosna v. Iowa · 419 U.S. 393 (1975)
• Califano v. Yamasaki · 442 U.S. 682 (1979)
• Frontiero v. Richardson · 411 U.S. 677 (1973)
• Franks v. Bowman Transportation Co. · 424 U.S. 747 (1976)
• Runyon v. McCrary · 427 U.S. 160 (1976)
• Schlesinger v. Reservists Committee to Stop the War · 418 U.S. 208 (1974)
• McDonald v. Santa Fe Trail Transportation Co. · 427 U.S. 273 (1976)
• Alexander v. Choate · 469 U.S. 287 (1985)
• DeFunis v. Odegaard · 416 U.S. 312 (1974)
• General Building Contractors Assn., Inc. v. Pennsylvania · 458 U.S. 375 (1982)
• Fullilove v. Klutznick · 448 U.S. 448 (1980)

Cited by

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

• Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 · 551 U.S. 701 (2007)
• Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin · 570 U.S. 297 (2013)
• Carney v. Adams · 592 U.S. 53 (2020)
• Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College · 600 U.S. 181 (2023)
• Johnson v. California · 543 U.S. 499 (2005)

Official text

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

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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).