John R. Sand & Gravel Company v. United States

Decided January 8, 2008. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 06-1164 · 552 U.S. 130 (2008) · Cited 519 times

Holding

The court of claims statute of limitations requires sua sponte consideration of a lawsuit’s timeliness, despite the Government’s waiver of the issue.

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.

• Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs · 498 U.S. 89 (1990)
• Soriano v. United States · 352 U.S. 270 (1957)
• Finn v. United States · 123 U.S. 227 (1887)
• Patterson v. McLean Credit Union · 491 U.S. 164 (1989)
• Franconia Associates v. United States · 536 U.S. 129 (2002)
• Bowen v. City of New York · 476 U.S. 467 (1986)
• Braden v. 30th Judicial Circuit Court of Kentucky · 410 U.S. 484 (1973)
• Honda v. Clark · 386 U.S. 484 (1967)
• Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp. · 546 U.S. 500 (2006)
• Burnet v. Coronado Oil & Gas Co. · 285 U.S. 393 (1932)
• Scarborough v. Principi · 541 U.S. 401 (2004)
• Rasul v. Bush · 542 U.S. 466 (2004)
• Bowles v. Russell · 551 U.S. 205 (2007)
• Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc. · 455 U.S. 385 (1982)
• Ahrens v. Clark · 335 U.S. 188 (1948)
• Shepard v. United States · 544 U.S. 13 (2005)
• United States v. Kubrick · 444 U.S. 111 (1979)
• Rodriguez De Quijas v. Shearson/American Express, Inc. · 490 U.S. 477 (1989)
• Day v. McDonough · 547 U.S. 198 (2006)
• United States v. Dalm · 494 U.S. 596 (1990)
• Keene Corp. v. United States · 508 U.S. 200 (1993)
• Rotella v. Wood · 528 U.S. 549 (2000)
• Fourco Glass Co. v. Transmirra Products Corp. · 353 U.S. 222 (1957)
• United States v. Brockamp · 519 U.S. 347 (1997)
• Morton Salt Co. v. G. S. Suppiger Co. · 314 U.S. 488 (1942)
• Hohn v. United States · 524 U.S. 236 (1998)
• Thompson v. Immigration & Naturalization Service · 375 U.S. 384 (1964)
• Hilton v. South Carolina Public Railways Commission · 502 U.S. 197 (1991)
• Harris Truck Lines, Inc. v. Cherry Meat Packers, Inc. · 371 U.S. 215 (1962)
• House v. Mayo · 324 U.S. 42 (1945)

Cited by

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

• Sebelius v. Cloer · 569 U.S. 369 (2013)
• Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC · 576 U.S. 466 (2015)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Stephen Gerald Breyer’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2008). 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).