Kentucky, Dba Bureau of State Police v. Graham et al.

Decided June 28, 1985. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 84-849 · 473 U.S. 159 (1985) · Cited 11,385 times

Holding

Section 1988 does not allow attorney's fees to be recovered from a governmental entity when a plaintiff sues governmental employees only in their personal capacities and prevails; accordingly, since this case was necessarily litigated as a personal-capacity and not as an official-capacity action, it was error to award fees against the Commonwealth.

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 9–0.

“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.

• Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs. · 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
• Hutto v. Finney · 437 U.S. 678 (1978)
• Brandon v. Holt · 469 U.S. 464 (1985)
• Hensley v. Eckerhart · 461 U.S. 424 (1983)
• Supreme Court of Virginia v. Consumers Union of the United States, Inc. · 446 U.S. 719 (1980)
• Edelman v. Jordan · 415 U.S. 651 (1974)
• City of Oklahoma v. Tuttle · 471 U.S. 808 (1985)
• Harlow v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 800 (1982)
• Scheuer v. Rhodes · 416 U.S. 232 (1974)
• Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman · 465 U.S. 89 (1984)
• Imbler v. Pachtman · 424 U.S. 409 (1976)
• Polk County v. Dodson · 454 U.S. 312 (1981)
• Monroe v. Pape · 365 U.S. 167 (1961)
• Pierson v. Ray · 386 U.S. 547 (1967)
• Tennessee v. Garner · 471 U.S. 1 (1985)
• Quern v. Jordan · 440 U.S. 332 (1979)
• Smith v. Wade · 461 U.S. 30 (1983)
• Wood v. Strickland · 420 U.S. 308 (1975)
• City of Newport v. Fact Concerts, Inc. · 453 U.S. 247 (1981)
• Owen v. City of Independence · 445 U.S. 622 (1980)
• Alabama v. Pugh · 438 U.S. 781 (1978)
• Ford Motor Co. v. Department of Treasury · 323 U.S. 459 (1945)
• Maher v. Gagne · 448 U.S. 122 (1980)
• Pulliam v. Allen · 466 U.S. 522 (1984)
• Cory v. White · 457 U.S. 85 (1982)

Cited by

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

• Lewis v. Clarke · 581 U.S. 155 (2017)
• Independent Federation of Flight Attendants v. Zipes · 491 U.S. 754 (1989)
• Hafer v. Melo · 502 U.S. 21 (1991)
• Will v. Michigan Department of State Police · 491 U.S. 58 (1989)
• Bender v. Williamsport Area School District · 475 U.S. 534 (1986)
• Farrar v. Hobby · 506 U.S. 103 (1992)
• Samantar v. Yousuf · 560 U.S. 305 (2010)
• Fox v. Vice · 563 U.S. 826 (2011)
• Wisconsin Department of Corrections v. Schacht · 524 U.S. 381 (1998)
• Diamond v. Charles · 476 U.S. 54 (1986)
• Regents of the University of Michigan v. Ewing · 474 U.S. 214 (1985)
• McMillian v. Monroe County · 520 U.S. 781 (1997)
• Karcher v. May · 484 U.S. 72 (1987)
• Tanzin v. Tanvir · 592 U.S. 43 (2020)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1985). 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).