Kedroff et al. v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church in North America

Decided November 24, 1952. Stanley Forman Reed delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 3 · 344 U.S. 94 (1952) · Cited 689 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 8–1.

“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.

• Watson v. Jones · 80 U.S. 679 (1872)
• American Communications Assn. v. Douds · 339 U.S. 382 (1950)
• Erie Railroad v. Tompkins · 304 U.S. 64 (1938)
• Gonzalez v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila · 280 U.S. 1 (1929)
• Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Electric Manufacturing Co. · 313 U.S. 487 (1941)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• Everson v. Board of Ed. of Ewing · 330 U.S. 1 (1947)
• Winters v. New York · 333 U.S. 507 (1948)
• Boyd's Lessee v. Graves · 17 U.S. 513 (1819)
• Zorach v. Clauson · 343 U.S. 306 (1952)
• Illinois Ex Rel. McCollum v. Board of Ed. of School Dist. No. 71, Champaign Cty. · 333 U.S. 203 (1948)
• Beauharnais v. Illinois · 343 U.S. 250 (1952)
• Hebert v. Louisiana · 272 U.S. 312 (1926)
• Indiana Ex Rel. Anderson v. Brand · 303 U.S. 95 (1938)
• Hamilton v. Regents of the University of California · 293 U.S. 245 (1934)
• Griffin v. McCoach · 313 U.S. 498 (1941)

Cited by

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

• Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission · 565 U.S. 171 (2012)
• 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)
• Kreshik v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral of Russian Orthodox Church of North America · 363 U.S. 190 (1960)
• Jones v. Wolf · 443 U.S. 595 (1979)
• Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Comm'n. · 605 U.S. 238 (2025)
• Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith · 494 U.S. 872 (1990)
• Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. Amos · 483 U.S. 327 (1987)
• Bowen v. Roy · 476 U.S. 693 (1986)
• McDaniel v. Paty · 435 U.S. 618 (1978)

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).