Karen Howsam, Etc. v. Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc.
Decided December 10, 2002. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 01-800 · 537 U.S. 79 (2002) · Cited 1,948 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 8–0.
Majority · 7
- Stephen Gerald Breyer · delivered the opinion of the Court
- Anthony McLeod Kennedy
- Antonin Scalia
- David Hackett Souter
- John Paul Stevens
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- William Hubbs Rehnquist
Concurring · 1
- Clarence Thomas · filed a concurring opinion
“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.
- First Options of Chicago, Inc. v. Kaplan · 514 U.S. 938 (1995)
- Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction Corp. · 460 U.S. 1 (1983)
- John Wiley & Sons, Inc. v. Livingston · 376 U.S. 543 (1964)
- At&T Technologies, Inc. v. Communications Workers · 475 U.S. 643 (1986)
- Volt Info. Sciences, Inc. v. Bd. of Trustees of Leland Stanford Jr. U. · 489 U.S. 468 (1989)
- United Steelworkers v. Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co. · 363 U.S. 574 (1960)
- Mastrobuono v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc. · 514 U.S. 52 (1995)
- Atkinson v. Sinclair Refining Co. · 370 U.S. 238 (1962)
Cited by
Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.
- BG Group, PLC v. Republic of Argentina · 572 U.S. 25 (2014)
- Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Bazzle · 539 U.S. 444 (2003)
- Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela · 587 U.S. 176 (2019)
- Stolt-Nielsen S. A. v. AnimalFeeds International Corp. · 559 U.S. 662 (2010)
- PacifiCare Health Systems, Inc. v. Book · 538 U.S. 401 (2003)
- Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis · 584 U.S. 497 (2018)
Official text
Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)
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Stephen Gerald Breyer’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court
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).