Keystone Bituminous Coal Assn. et al. v. Debenedictis, Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources, et al.

Decided March 9, 1987. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 85-1092 · 480 U.S. 470 (1987) · Cited 1,040 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.

• Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon · 260 U.S. 393 (1922)
• Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City · 438 U.S. 104 (1978)
• Andrus v. Allard · 444 U.S. 51 (1979)
• Goldblatt v. Town of Hempstead · 369 U.S. 590 (1962)
• Agins v. City of Tiburon · 447 U.S. 255 (1980)
• Home Building & Loan Assn. v. Blaisdell · 290 U.S. 398 (1934)
• Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. · 272 U.S. 365 (1926)
• Ruckelshaus v. Monsanto Co. · 467 U.S. 986 (1984)
• Energy Reserves Group, Inc. v. Kansas Power & Light Co. · 459 U.S. 400 (1983)
• Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff · 467 U.S. 229 (1984)
• Allied Structural Steel Co. v. Spannaus · 438 U.S. 234 (1978)
• Miller v. Schoene · 276 U.S. 272 (1928)
• Hodel v. Virginia Surface Mining & Reclamation Assn., Inc. · 452 U.S. 264 (1981)
• United States Trust Co. of NY v. New Jersey · 431 U.S. 1 (1977)
• United States v. Causby · 328 U.S. 256 (1946)
• United States v. General Motors Corp. · 323 U.S. 373 (1945)
• Webb's Fabulous Pharmacies, Inc. v. Beckwith · 449 U.S. 155 (1980)
• Gorieb v. Fox · 274 U.S. 603 (1927)
• Plymouth Coal Co. v. Pennsylvania · 232 U.S. 531 (1914)
• Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth · 408 U.S. 564 (1972)
• Loretto v. Teleprompter Manhattan CATV Corp. · 458 U.S. 419 (1982)
• Runyon v. McCrary · 427 U.S. 160 (1976)
• Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. Chicago · 166 U.S. 226 (1897)
• Berman v. Parker · 348 U.S. 26 (1954)
• Armstrong v. United States · 364 U.S. 40 (1960)
• PruneYard Shopping Center v. Robins · 447 U.S. 74 (1980)
• United States v. Henry · 447 U.S. 264 (1980)
• Kaiser Aetna v. United States · 444 U.S. 164 (1979)
• Connolly v. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation · 475 U.S. 211 (1986)
• Rescue Army v. Municipal Court of Los Angeles · 331 U.S. 549 (1947)

Cited by

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

• Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council · 505 U.S. 1003 (1992)
• First English Evangelical Lutheran Church v. County of Los Angeles · 482 U.S. 304 (1987)
• Tahoe-Sierra Preservation Council, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency · 535 U.S. 302 (2002)
• Murr v. Wisconsin · 582 U.S. 383 (2017)
• Dolan v. City of Tigard · 512 U.S. 374 (1994)
• Hodel v. Irving · 481 U.S. 704 (1987)
• Yee v. City of Escondido · 503 U.S. 519 (1992)
• City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Monterey, Ltd. · 526 U.S. 687 (1999)
• Brown v. Legal Foundation of Washington · 538 U.S. 216 (2003)
• Concrete Pipe & Products of Cal., Inc. v. Construction Laborers Pension Trust for Southern Cal. · 508 U.S. 602 (1993)
• Nollan v. California Coastal Commission · 483 U.S. 825 (1987)
• Lingle v. Chevron U. S. A. Inc. · 544 U.S. 528 (2005)
• Palazzolo v. Rhode Island · 533 U.S. 606 (2001)
• Eastern Enterprises v. Apfel · 524 U.S. 498 (1998)
• Pennell v. City of San Jose · 485 U.S. 1 (1988)
• Suitum v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency · 520 U.S. 725 (1997)
• United States v. Sperry Corp. · 493 U.S. 52 (1989)
• Bowen v. Gilliard · 483 U.S. 587 (1987)
• Cotton Petroleum Corp. v. New Mexico · 490 U.S. 163 (1989)
• Sveen v. Melin · 584 U.S. 811 (2018)

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).