Meese, Attorney General of the United States, et al. v. Keene

Decided April 28, 1987. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 85-1180 · 481 U.S. 465 (1987) · Cited 332 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 5–3.

“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.

• Lamont v. Postmaster General · 381 U.S. 301 (1965)
• Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, Inc. · 425 U.S. 748 (1976)
• Laird v. Tatum · 408 U.S. 1 (1972)
• Bantam Books, Inc. v. Sullivan · 372 U.S. 58 (1963)
• Allen v. Wright · 468 U.S. 737 (1984)
• Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc. · 454 U.S. 464 (1982)
• Whitney v. California · 274 U.S. 357 (1927)
• American Communications Assn. v. Douds · 339 U.S. 382 (1950)
• Federal Election Commission v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc. · 479 U.S. 238 (1986)
• Viereck v. United States · 318 U.S. 236 (1943)
• Simon v. Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights Organization · 426 U.S. 26 (1976)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Button · 371 U.S. 415 (1963)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama Ex Rel. Patterson · 357 U.S. 449 (1958)
• United States v. Harriss · 347 U.S. 612 (1954)
• Speiser v. Randall · 357 U.S. 513 (1958)
• Freedman v. Maryland · 380 U.S. 51 (1965)
• Colautti v. Franklin · 439 U.S. 379 (1979)
• Minneapolis Star & Tribune Co. v. Minnesota Commissioner of Revenue · 460 U.S. 575 (1983)
• Linmark Associates, Inc. v. Township of Willingboro · 431 U.S. 85 (1977)
• Talley v. California · 362 U.S. 60 (1960)
• Gibson v. Florida Legislative Investigation Committee · 372 U.S. 539 (1963)
• Brown v. Socialist Workers '74 Campaign Comm. (Ohio) · 459 U.S. 87 (1982)

Cited by

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

• Stenberg v. Carhart · 530 U.S. 914 (2000)
• Clapper v. Amnesty International USA · 568 U.S. 398 (2013)
• Thole v. U. S. Bank N. A. · 590 U.S. 538 (2020)
• Spencer v. Kemna · 523 U.S. 1 (1998)
• TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez · 594 U.S. 413 (2021)
• Lee v. Weisman · 505 U.S. 577 (1992)
• University of Pennsylvania v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission · 493 U.S. 182 (1990)

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).