Jones et al. v. Wolf et al.

Decided July 2, 1979. Harry Andrew Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 78-91 · 443 U.S. 595 (1979) · Cited 834 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 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.

• Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese for United States and Canada v. Milivojevich · 426 U.S. 696 (1976)
• Presbyterian Church in US v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church · 393 U.S. 440 (1969)
• Watson v. Jones · 80 U.S. 679 (1872)
• Kedroff v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church in North America · 344 U.S. 94 (1952)
• Erie Railroad v. Tompkins · 304 U.S. 64 (1938)
• Kreshik v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral of Russian Orthodox Church of North America · 363 U.S. 190 (1960)

Cited by

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

• Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith · 494 U.S. 872 (1990)
• Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock · 489 U.S. 1 (1989)

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).