McDaniel v. Paty et al.

Decided April 19, 1978. Warren Earl Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 76-1427 · 435 U.S. 618 (1978) · Cited 299 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

“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.

• Torcaso v. Watkins · 367 U.S. 488 (1961)
• Sherbert v. Verner · 374 U.S. 398 (1963)
• Wisconsin v. Yoder · 406 U.S. 205 (1972)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• Everson v. Board of Ed. of Ewing · 330 U.S. 1 (1947)
• Walz v. Tax Comm'n of City of New York · 397 U.S. 664 (1970)
• Bullock v. Carter · 405 U.S. 134 (1972)
• Murdock v. Pennsylvania · 319 U.S. 105 (1943)
• Wieman v. Updegraff · 344 U.S. 183 (1952)
• Braunfeld v. Brown · 366 U.S. 599 (1961)
• McGowan v. Maryland · 366 U.S. 420 (1961)
• Lemon v. Kurtzman · 403 U.S. 602 (1971)
• Epperson v. Arkansas · 393 U.S. 97 (1968)
• Zorach v. Clauson · 343 U.S. 306 (1952)
• Illinois Ex Rel. McCollum v. Board of Ed. of School Dist. No. 71, Champaign Cty. · 333 U.S. 203 (1948)
• Lubin v. Panish · 415 U.S. 709 (1974)
• Kunz v. New York · 340 U.S. 290 (1951)
• Meek v. Pittenger · 421 U.S. 349 (1975)
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• Reuben Quick Bear v. Leupp · 210 U.S. 50 (1908)
• Williams v. Rhodes · 393 U.S. 23 (1968)
• United Public Workers of America v. Mitchell · 330 U.S. 75 (1947)
• Terminiello v. Chicago · 337 U.S. 1 (1949)
• Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese for United States and Canada v. Milivojevich · 426 U.S. 696 (1976)
• Watson v. Jones · 80 U.S. 679 (1872)
• Gitlow v. New York · 268 U.S. 652 (1925)
• Grosjean v. American Press Co. · 297 U.S. 233 (1936)
• Presbyterian Church in US v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church · 393 U.S. 440 (1969)
• Martin v. City of Struthers · 319 U.S. 141 (1943)
• Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist · 413 U.S. 756 (1973)

Cited by

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

• Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer · 582 U.S. 449 (2017)
• Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue · 591 U.S. 464 (2020)
• Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah · 508 U.S. 520 (1993)
• Locke v. Davey · 540 U.S. 712 (2004)
• Board of Ed. of Kiryas Joel Village School Dist. v. Grumet · 512 U.S. 687 (1994)
• Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith · 494 U.S. 872 (1990)
• Carson v. Makin · 596 U.S. 767 (2022)
• Marsh v. Chambers · 463 U.S. 783 (1983)
• Bender v. Williamsport Area School District · 475 U.S. 534 (1986)
• City of Boerne v. Flores · 521 U.S. 507 (1997)
• Bob Jones University v. United States · 461 U.S. 574 (1983)
• Board of Ed. of Westside Community Schools (Dist. 66) v. Mergens · 496 U.S. 226 (1990)
• Chandler v. Miller · 520 U.S. 305 (1997)
• Larkin v. Grendel's Den, Inc. · 459 U.S. 116 (1982)
• Shurtleff v. Boston · 596 U.S. 243 (2022)

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).