Mathews, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare v. Eldridge

Decided February 24, 1976. Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 74-204 · 424 U.S. 319 (1976) · Cited 16,859 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 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.

• Goldberg v. Kelly · 397 U.S. 254 (1970)
• Weinberger v. Salfi · 422 U.S. 749 (1975)
• Arnett v. Kennedy · 416 U.S. 134 (1974)
• Richardson v. Perales · 402 U.S. 389 (1971)
• Fuentes v. Shevin · 407 U.S. 67 (1972)
• Cafeteria & Restaurant Workers Union, Local 473 v. McElroy · 367 U.S. 886 (1961)
• Bell v. Burson · 402 U.S. 535 (1971)
• Richardson v. Belcher · 404 U.S. 78 (1971)
• Fusari v. Steinberg · 419 U.S. 379 (1975)
• Morrissey v. Brewer · 408 U.S. 471 (1972)
• Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath · 341 U.S. 123 (1951)
• Sniadach v. Family Finance Corp. of Bay View · 395 U.S. 337 (1969)
• Flemming v. Nestor · 363 U.S. 603 (1960)
• Mercantile Nat. Bank at Dallas v. Langdeau · 371 U.S. 555 (1963)
• Local No. 438 Construction & General Laborers' Union v. Curry · 371 U.S. 542 (1963)
• Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth · 408 U.S. 564 (1972)
• Wolff v. McDonnell · 418 U.S. 539 (1974)
• Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp. · 337 U.S. 541 (1949)
• Boddie v. Connecticut · 401 U.S. 371 (1971)
• Armstrong v. Manzo · 380 U.S. 545 (1965)
• McKart v. United States · 395 U.S. 185 (1969)
• Regional Rail Reorganization Act Cases · 419 U.S. 102 (1974)
• Mitchell v. W. T. Grant Co. · 416 U.S. 600 (1974)
• Phillips v. Commissioner · 283 U.S. 589 (1931)
• North Georgia Finishing, Inc. v. Di-Chem, Inc. · 419 U.S. 601 (1975)
• Dent v. West Virginia · 129 U.S. 114 (1889)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Pottsville Broadcasting Co. · 309 U.S. 134 (1940)
• Grannis v. Ordean · 234 U.S. 385 (1914)
• Harris v. Washington · 404 U.S. 55 (1971)

Cited by

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

• Kaley v. United States · 571 U.S. 320 (2014)
• Medina v. California · 505 U.S. 437 (1992)
• Walters v. National Assn. of Radiation Survivors · 473 U.S. 305 (1985)
• Zinermon v. Burch · 494 U.S. 113 (1990)
• Bowen v. City of New York · 476 U.S. 467 (1986)
• Nelson v. Colorado · 581 U.S. 128 (2017)
• Lassiter v. Department of Social Servs. of Durham Cty. · 452 U.S. 18 (1981)
• Hamdi v. Rumsfeld · 542 U.S. 507 (2004)
• MacKey v. Montrym · 443 U.S. 1 (1979)
• Heckler v. Ringer · 466 U.S. 602 (1984)
• Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill · 470 U.S. 532 (1985)
• Santosky v. Kramer · 455 U.S. 745 (1982)
• Greenholtz v. Inmates of the Nebraska Penal & Correctional Complex · 442 U.S. 1 (1979)
• Pacific Mutual Life Insurance v. Haslip · 499 U.S. 1 (1991)
• United States v. James Daniel Good Real Property · 510 U.S. 43 (1993)
• Board of Curators of the University of Missouri v. Horowitz · 435 U.S. 78 (1978)
• Burns v. United States · 501 U.S. 129 (1991)
• Wilkinson v. Austin · 545 U.S. 209 (2005)
• Parham v. J. R. · 442 U.S. 584 (1979)
• Shalala v. Illinois Council on Long Term Care, Inc. · 529 U.S. 1 (2000)
• Connecticut v. Doehr · 501 U.S. 1 (1991)
• Atkins v. Parker · 472 U.S. 115 (1985)
• Schweiker v. McClure · 456 U.S. 188 (1982)
• Smith v. Berryhill · 587 U.S. 471 (2019)
• Culley v. Marshall · 601 U.S. 377 (2024)
• American Manufacturers Mutual Insurance v. Sullivan · 526 U.S. 40 (1999)
• Califano v. Yamasaki · 442 U.S. 682 (1979)
• Dixon v. Love · 431 U.S. 105 (1977)
• Brock v. Roadway Express, Inc. · 481 U.S. 252 (1987)
• Ingraham v. Wright · 430 U.S. 651 (1977)

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).