John D. Ashcroft, Former Attorney General, et al. v. Javaid Iqbal et al.

Decided May 18, 2009. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 07-1015 · 556 U.S. 662 (2009) · Cited 149,772 times

Holding

An employer does not necessarily violate the PDA when it pays pension benefits calculated in part under an accrual rule, applied only pre-PDA, that gave less retirement credit for pregnancy than for medical leave generally.

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 5–4.

“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.

• Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly · 550 U.S. 544 (2007)
• Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · 403 U.S. 388 (1971)
• Johnson v. Jones · 515 U.S. 304 (1995)
• Mitchell v. Forsyth · 472 U.S. 511 (1985)
• Hartman v. Moore · 547 U.S. 250 (2006)
• Behrens v. Pelletier · 516 U.S. 299 (1996)
• Wilkie v. Robbins · 551 U.S. 537 (2007)
• Conley v. Gibson · 355 U.S. 41 (1957)
• Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp. · 337 U.S. 541 (1949)
• Personnel Administrator of Mass. v. Feeney · 442 U.S. 256 (1979)
• Farmer v. Brennan · 511 U.S. 825 (1994)
• Correctional Services Corp. v. Malesko · 534 U.S. 61 (2001)
• Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs. · 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
• Harlow v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 800 (1982)
• Neitzke v. Williams · 490 U.S. 319 (1989)
• Bell v. Wolfish · 441 U.S. 520 (1979)
• Papasan v. Allain · 478 U.S. 265 (1986)
• Mapp v. Ohio · 367 U.S. 643 (1961)
• Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp. · 546 U.S. 500 (2006)
• Washington v. Davis · 426 U.S. 229 (1976)
• United States v. Cotton · 535 U.S. 625 (2002)
• Davis v. Passman · 442 U.S. 228 (1979)
• Siegert v. Gilley · 500 U.S. 226 (1991)
• Wilson v. Layne · 526 U.S. 603 (1999)
• Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah · 508 U.S. 520 (1993)
• Bush v. Lucas · 462 U.S. 367 (1983)
• Swint v. Chambers County Commission · 514 U.S. 35 (1995)
• Copperweld Corp. v. Independence Tube Corp. · 467 U.S. 752 (1984)
• United States v. International Business MacHines Corp. · 517 U.S. 843 (1996)
• Pearson v. Callahan · 555 U.S. 223 (2009)

Cited by

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

• Ziglar v. Abbasi · 582 U.S. 120 (2017)
• Matrixx Initiatives, Inc. v. Siracusano · 563 U.S. 27 (2011)
• Wood v. Moss · 572 U.S. 744 (2014)
• Comcast Corp. v. National Assn. of African-American Owned Media · 589 U.S. 327 (2020)
• Lexmark Int'l, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc. · 572 U.S. 118 (2014)
• Plumhoff v. Rickard · 572 U.S. 765 (2014)
• Glossip v. Gross · 576 U.S. 863 (2015)
• Omnicare, Inc. v. Laborers Dist. Council Constr. Industry Pension Fund · 575 U.S. 175 (2015)
• Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck · 587 U.S. 802 (2019)
• Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela · 587 U.S. 176 (2019)
• National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo · 602 U.S. 175 (2024)
• Mohawk Industries, Inc. v. Carpenter · 558 U.S. 100 (2009)
• Stanley v. City of Sanford · 606 U.S. 46 (2025)
• Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos · 605 U.S. 280 (2025)
• Reichle v. Howards · 566 U.S. 658 (2012)
• Ricci v. DeStefano · 557 U.S. 557 (2009)
• Shapiro v. McManus · 577 U.S. 39 (2015)
• Hughes v. Northwestern Univ. · 595 U.S. 170 (2022)
• Hernández v. Mesa · 589 U.S. 93 (2020)
• Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson · 595 U.S. 30 (2021)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2009). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).