Ludecke v. Watkins, District Director of Immigration

Decided June 21, 1948. Felix Frankfurter delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 723 · 335 U.S. 160 (1948) · Cited 201 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.

• Woods v. Cloyd W. Miller Co. · 333 U.S. 138 (1948)
• Fleming v. Mohawk Wrecking & Lumber Co. · 331 U.S. 111 (1947)
• Bridges v. Wixon · 326 U.S. 135 (1945)
• The Japanese Immigrant Case · 189 U.S. 86 (1903)
• United States Ex Rel. Vajtauer v. Commissioner of Immigration · 273 U.S. 103 (1927)
• McElrath v. United States · 102 U.S. 426 (1880)
• Home Building & Loan Assn. v. Blaisdell · 290 U.S. 398 (1934)
• Korematsu v. United States · 323 U.S. 214 (1945)
• Wong Wing v. United States · 163 U.S. 228 (1896)
• Ex Parte Endo · 323 U.S. 283 (1945)
• Mahler v. Eby · 264 U.S. 32 (1924)
• Chin Yow v. United States · 208 U.S. 8 (1908)
• Kwock Jan Fat v. White · 253 U.S. 454 (1920)
• United States Ex Rel. Tisi v. Tod · 264 U.S. 131 (1924)
• Stewart v. Kahn · 78 U.S. 493 (1871)
• Brown v. United States · 12 U.S. 110 (1814)
• Zakonaite v. Wolf · 226 U.S. 272 (1912)

Cited by

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

• Algoma Plywood & Veneer Co. v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Board · 336 U.S. 301 (1949)
• Hamdi v. Rumsfeld · 542 U.S. 507 (2004)
• Trump v. J. G. G. · 604 U.S. 670 (2025)
• Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath · 341 U.S. 123 (1951)
• Shaughnessy v. United States Ex Rel. Mezei · 345 U.S. 206 (1953)
• United States Ex Rel. Knauff v. Shaughnessy · 338 U.S. 537 (1950)
• Johnson v. Eisentrager · 339 U.S. 763 (1950)
• Hampton v. Mow Sun Wong · 426 U.S. 88 (1976)
• Baker v. Carr · 369 U.S. 186 (1962)
• United States v. Salerno · 481 U.S. 739 (1987)
• Reno v. Flores · 507 U.S. 292 (1993)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Chadha · 462 U.S. 919 (1983)
• Abel v. United States · 362 U.S. 217 (1960)
• Bowen v. Michigan Academy of Family Physicians · 476 U.S. 667 (1986)
• Cox v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 559 (1965)
• Block v. Community Nutrition Institute · 467 U.S. 340 (1984)
• Stein v. New York · 346 U.S. 156 (1953)
• Heikkila v. Barber · 345 U.S. 229 (1953)
• Jay v. Boyd · 351 U.S. 345 (1956)
• United States v. International Business MacHines Corp. · 517 U.S. 843 (1996)

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).