Maurice Rivers and Robert C. Davison v. Roadway Express, Inc.

Decided April 26, 1994. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 92-938 · 511 U.S. 298 (1994) · Cited 821 times

Holding

Section 101 does not apply to a case that arose before it was enacted.

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 8–1.

“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.

• Patterson v. McLean Credit Union · 491 U.S. 164 (1989)
• Bradley v. School Bd. of Richmond · 416 U.S. 696 (1974)
• Bowen v. Georgetown University Hospital · 488 U.S. 204 (1988)
• Frisbie v. Whitney · 76 U.S. 187 (1870)
• Bennett v. New Jersey · 470 U.S. 632 (1985)
• Runyon v. McCrary · 427 U.S. 160 (1976)
• Johnson v. Railway Express Agency, Inc. · 421 U.S. 454 (1975)
• Brown v. Allen · 344 U.S. 443 (1953)
• Harper v. Virginia Department of Taxation · 509 U.S. 86 (1993)
• Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. v. Bonjorno · 494 U.S. 827 (1990)
• United States v. Security Industrial Bank · 459 U.S. 70 (1982)
• Kuhn v. Fairmont Coal Co. · 215 U.S. 349 (1910)
• Tillman v. Wheaton-Haven Recreation Assn., Inc. · 410 U.S. 431 (1973)

Cited by

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

• Plaut v. Spendthrift Farm, Inc. · 514 U.S. 211 (1995)
• Jones v. R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co. · 541 U.S. 369 (2004)
• George v. McDonough · 596 U.S. 740 (2022)
• Comcast Corp. v. National Assn. of African-American Owned Media · 589 U.S. 327 (2020)
• Bousley v. United States · 523 U.S. 614 (1998)
• Johnson v. United States · 529 U.S. 694 (2000)
• Palazzolo v. Rhode Island · 533 U.S. 606 (2001)
• Hughes Aircraft Co. v. United States Ex Rel. Schumer · 520 U.S. 939 (1997)
• Bush v. Gore · 531 U.S. 98 (2000)
• United States v. O’Brien · 560 U.S. 218 (2010)
• Nitro-Lift Technologies, L. L. C. v. Howard · 568 U.S. 17 (2012)
• United States v. Palomar-Santiago · 593 U.S. 321 (2021)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1994). 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).