Johnny Lynn Old Chief v. United States
Decided January 14, 1997. David Hackett Souter delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 95-6556 · 519 U.S. 172 (1997) · Cited 2,913 times
Holding
The ultimate touchstone under § 2000e(b) is whether an employer has employment relationships with 15 or more individuals for each working day in 20 or more weeks during the year in question.
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.
Majority · 5
- David Hackett Souter · delivered the opinion of the Court
- Anthony McLeod Kennedy
- John Paul Stevens
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- Stephen Gerald Breyer
Dissenting · 4
- Antonin Scalia
- Clarence Thomas
- Sandra Day O'Connor · filed a dissenting opinion
- William Hubbs Rehnquist
“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.
- Singer v. United States · 380 U.S. 24 (1965)
- Estelle v. McGuire · 502 U.S. 62 (1991)
- Michelson v. United States · 335 U.S. 469 (1948)
- In Re WINSHIP · 397 U.S. 358 (1970)
- Sullivan v. Louisiana · 508 U.S. 275 (1993)
- United States v. Gaudin · 515 U.S. 506 (1995)
- County Court of Ulster Cty. v. Allen · 442 U.S. 140 (1979)
- Staples v. United States · 511 U.S. 600 (1994)
- Mathews v. United States · 485 U.S. 58 (1988)
- United States v. Abel · 469 U.S. 45 (1984)
- Lakeside v. Oregon · 435 U.S. 333 (1978)
- Shannon v. United States · 512 U.S. 573 (1994)
Cited by
Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.
- Rehaif v. United States · 588 U.S. 225 (2019)
- Almendarez-Torres v. United States · 523 U.S. 224 (1998)
- Erlinger v. United States · 602 U.S. 821 (2024)
- General Electric Co. v. Joiner · 522 U.S. 136 (1997)
- Greer v. United States · 593 U.S. 503 (2021)
- Sprint/United Management Co. v. Mendelsohn · 552 U.S. 379 (2008)
- United States v. Tsarnaev · 595 U.S. 302 (2022)
Official text
Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)
Explore from here
David Hackett Souter’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court
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).