McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green

Decided May 14, 1973. Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 72-490 · 411 U.S. 792 (1973) · Cited 38,518 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 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.

• Griggs v. Duke Power Co. · 401 U.S. 424 (1971)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corp. · 306 U.S. 240 (1939)
• Garner v. Board of Public Works of Los Angeles · 341 U.S. 716 (1951)

Cited by

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

• Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc. · 575 U.S. 206 (2015)
• St. Mary's Honor Center v. Hicks · 509 U.S. 502 (1993)
• Furnco Construction Corp. v. Waters · 438 U.S. 567 (1978)
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters v. United States · 431 U.S. 324 (1977)
• Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine · 450 U.S. 248 (1981)
• Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins · 490 U.S. 228 (1989)
• Patterson v. McLean Credit Union · 491 U.S. 164 (1989)
• McDonald v. Santa Fe Trail Transportation Co. · 427 U.S. 273 (1976)
• General Electric Co. v. Gilbert · 429 U.S. 125 (1976)
• Kremer v. Chemical Construction Corp. · 456 U.S. 461 (1982)
• Watson v. Fort Worth Bank & Trust · 487 U.S. 977 (1988)
• Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services · 605 U.S. 303 (2025)
• Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly · 550 U.S. 544 (2007)
• Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N. A. · 534 U.S. 506 (2002)
• Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc. · 557 U.S. 167 (2009)
• Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio · 490 U.S. 642 (1989)
• Comcast Corp. v. National Assn. of African-American Owned Media · 589 U.S. 327 (2020)
• Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody · 422 U.S. 405 (1975)
• Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co. · 415 U.S. 36 (1974)
• United States Postal Service Board of Governors v. Aikens · 460 U.S. 711 (1983)
• Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Thurston · 469 U.S. 111 (1985)
• Raytheon Co. v. Hernandez · 540 U.S. 44 (2003)
• Board of Trustees of Keene State College v. Sweeney · 439 U.S. 24 (1978)
• Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc. · 530 U.S. 133 (2000)
• Rita v. United States · 551 U.S. 338 (2007)
• O'CONNOR v. Consolidated Coin Caterers Corp. · 517 U.S. 308 (1996)
• Hazelwood School District v. United States · 433 U.S. 299 (1977)
• Dothard v. Rawlinson · 433 U.S. 321 (1977)
• Vance v. Ball State Univ. · 570 U.S. 421 (2013)
• Wilkie v. Robbins · 551 U.S. 537 (2007)

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).