McGee v. United States

Decided May 17, 1971. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 362 · 402 U.S. 479 (1971) · Cited 351 times

Holding

Petitioner's failure to exhaust his administrative remedies jeopardized the interest of the Selective Service System, as the administrative agency responsible for classifying registrants, in developing the facts and using its expertise to assess his claims to exempt status and thus bars petitioner's defense that he was erroneously classified.

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.

• McKart v. United States · 395 U.S. 185 (1969)
• Witmer v. United States · 348 U.S. 375 (1955)
• Estep v. United States · 327 U.S. 114 (1946)
• Welsh v. United States · 398 U.S. 333 (1970)
• Gillette v. United States · 401 U.S. 437 (1971)
• Dickinson v. United States · 346 U.S. 389 (1953)
• Oestereich v. Selective Service System Local Board No. 11 · 393 U.S. 233 (1968)
• Falbo v. United States · 320 U.S. 549 (1944)
• Mulloy v. United States · 398 U.S. 410 (1970)

Cited by

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

• Moore v. City of East Cleveland · 431 U.S. 494 (1977)
• Federal Trade Commission v. Standard Oil Co. · 449 U.S. 232 (1980)
• Parisi v. Davidson · 405 U.S. 34 (1972)
• McCarthy v. Madigan · 503 U.S. 140 (1992)
• Coit Independence Joint Venture v. Federal Savings & Loan Insurance · 489 U.S. 561 (1989)
• United States v. Williams · 514 U.S. 527 (1995)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1971). 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).