Leonard Rollon Crawford-El v. Patricia Britton

Decided May 4, 1998. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 96-827 · 523 U.S. 574 (1998) · Cited 2,583 times

Holding

The Court of Appeals erred in fashioning a heightened burden of proof for unconstitutional-motive cases against public officials.

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 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.

• Harlow v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 800 (1982)
• Wood v. Strickland · 420 U.S. 308 (1975)
• Anderson v. Creighton · 483 U.S. 635 (1987)
• Scheuer v. Rhodes · 416 U.S. 232 (1974)
• Monroe v. Pape · 365 U.S. 167 (1961)
• Butz v. Economou · 438 U.S. 478 (1978)
• Pickering v. Board of Ed. of Township High School Dist. 205, Will Cty. · 391 U.S. 563 (1968)
• Siegert v. Gilley · 500 U.S. 226 (1991)
• Nixon v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 731 (1982)
• Wyatt v. Cole · 504 U.S. 158 (1992)
• Mitchell v. Forsyth · 472 U.S. 511 (1985)
• Gomez v. Toledo · 446 U.S. 635 (1980)
• Branti v. Finkel · 445 U.S. 507 (1980)
• Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. · 477 U.S. 242 (1986)
• Washington v. Davis · 426 U.S. 229 (1976)
• Leatherman v. Tarrant County Narcotics Intelligence and Coordination Unit · 507 U.S. 163 (1993)
• Johnson v. Jones · 515 U.S. 304 (1995)
• Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, Administratrix of the Estate of Catrett · 477 U.S. 317 (1986)
• Farmer v. Brennan · 511 U.S. 825 (1994)
• Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · 429 U.S. 274 (1977)
• Imbler v. Pachtman · 424 U.S. 409 (1976)
• Perry v. Sindermann · 408 U.S. 593 (1972)
• Davis v. Scherer · 468 U.S. 183 (1984)
• Personnel Administrator of Mass. v. Feeney · 442 U.S. 256 (1979)
• Behrens v. Pelletier · 516 U.S. 299 (1996)
• Burns v. Reed · 500 U.S. 478 (1991)
• Osborn v. Bank of United States · 22 U.S. 738 (1824)
• Nebraska Press Assn. v. Stuart · 427 U.S. 539 (1976)
• Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad · 420 U.S. 546 (1975)
• Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union · 521 U.S. 844 (1997)

Cited by

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

• Nieves v. Bartlett · 587 U.S. 391 (2019)
• Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly · 550 U.S. 544 (2007)
• Hartman v. Moore · 547 U.S. 250 (2006)
• Ziglar v. Abbasi · 582 U.S. 120 (2017)
• Lozman v. Riviera Beach · 585 U.S. 87 (2018)
• Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic · 606 U.S. 357 (2025)
• Cunningham v. Cornell Univ. · 604 U.S. 693 (2025)
• Ortiz v. Jordan · 562 U.S. 180 (2011)
• Egbert v. Boule · 596 U.S. 482 (2022)
• National Archives & Records Administration v. Favish · 541 U.S. 157 (2004)
• City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Monterey, Ltd. · 526 U.S. 687 (1999)
• Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education · 544 U.S. 167 (2005)
• Texas v. Lesage · 528 U.S. 18 (1999)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1998). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).