Louis W. Sullivan, Secretary of Health and Human Services v. Marilyn Finkelstein

Decided June 18, 1990. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 89-504 · 496 U.S. 617 (1990) · Cited 706 times

Holding

The Secretary may immediately appeal a district court order effectively invalidating regulations limiting the kinds of inquiries that must be made to determine entitlement to disability insurance benefits and remanding a claim to the Secretary for consideration without those restrictions.

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.

• Sullivan v. Hudson · 490 U.S. 877 (1989)
• Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp. · 337 U.S. 541 (1949)
• Bowen v. Yuckert · 482 U.S. 137 (1987)
• United States v. United Mine Workers of America · 330 U.S. 258 (1947)
• Sullivan v. Zebley · 493 U.S. 521 (1990)
• Heckler v. Campbell · 461 U.S. 458 (1983)
• Liberty Mutual Insurance v. Wetzel · 424 U.S. 737 (1976)
• Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. MacKey · 351 U.S. 427 (1956)
• City of Tacoma v. Taxpayers of Tacoma · 357 U.S. 320 (1958)

Cited by

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

• Shalala v. Schaefer · 509 U.S. 292 (1993)
• Forney v. Apfel · 524 U.S. 266 (1998)
• Melkonyan v. Sullivan · 501 U.S. 89 (1991)
• District of Columbia v. Heller · 554 U.S. 570 (2008)
• Bostock v. Clayton County · 590 U.S. 644 (2020)
• Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Assn. · 575 U.S. 92 (2015)
• Wright v. West · 505 U.S. 277 (1992)
• Chapman v. United States · 500 U.S. 453 (1991)
• Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority v. Metcalf & Eddy, Inc. · 506 U.S. 139 (1993)
• Food & Drug Administration v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. · 529 U.S. 120 (2000)
• Bruesewitz v. Wyeth LLC · 562 U.S. 223 (2011)
• Richlin Security Service Co. v. Chertoff · 553 U.S. 571 (2008)
• Republic of Iraq v. Beaty · 556 U.S. 848 (2009)
• West Virginia v. EPA · 597 U.S. 697 (2022)
• Riley v. Kennedy · 553 U.S. 406 (2008)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Byron Raymond White’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1990). 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).