Lockhart v. United States

Decided March 1, 2016. Sonia Sotomayor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 14-8358 · 577 U.S. 347 (2016) · Cited 270 times

Holding

ERISA pre-empts Vermont's statute as applied to ERISA plans.

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 6–2.

“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.

• Barnhart v. Thomas · 540 U.S. 20 (2003)
• United States v. Bass · 404 U.S. 336 (1971)
• Jama v. Immigration and Customs Enforcement · 543 U.S. 335 (2005)
• Porto Rico Railway, Light & Power Co. v. Mor · 253 U.S. 345 (1920)
• Callanan v. United States · 364 U.S. 587 (1961)
• Universal Camera Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board · 340 U.S. 474 (1951)
• Taylor v. United States · 495 U.S. 575 (1990)
• Bailey v. United States · 516 U.S. 137 (1995)
• Davis v. Michigan Department of the Treasury · 489 U.S. 803 (1989)
• Nobelman v. American Savings Bank · 508 U.S. 324 (1993)
• Microsoft Corp. v. i4i Ltd. Partnership · 564 U.S. 91 (2011)
• Reed Elsevier, Inc. v. Muchnick · 559 U.S. 154 (2010)
• Bifulco v. United States · 447 U.S. 381 (1980)
• Bruesewitz v. Wyeth LLC · 562 U.S. 223 (2011)
• United States v. Atlantic Research Corp. · 551 U.S. 128 (2007)
• Federal Trade Commission v. Mandel Bros. · 359 U.S. 385 (1959)
• Descamps v. United States · 570 U.S. 254 (2013)
• Jones v. United States · 529 U.S. 848 (2000)
• OBB Personenverkehr AG v. Sachs · 577 U.S. 27 (2015)
• Musacchio v. United States · 577 U.S. 237 (2016)
• Jones v. United States · 529 U.S. 848 (2000)
• Fed. Energy Regulatory Comm'n v. Elec. Power Supply Ass'n · 577 U.S. 260 (2016)

Cited by

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

• Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid · 592 U.S. 395 (2021)
• Yellen v. Confederated Tribes of Chehalis Reservation · 594 U.S. 338 (2021)
• Feliciano v. Department Of Transportation · 605 U.S. 38 (2025)

Official text

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

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Sonia Sotomayor’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2016). 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).