Menachem Binyamin Zivotofsky, by His Parents and Guardians, Ari Z. and Naomi Siegman Zivotofsky, Petitioner v. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State

Decided March 26, 2012. John Glover Roberts Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 10-699 · 566 U.S. 189 (2012) · Cited 264 times

Holding

The political question doctrine does not bar judicial review of Zivotofsky’s claim.

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.

• Baker v. Carr · 369 U.S. 186 (1962)
• Nixon v. United States · 506 U.S. 224 (1993)
• Chicago & Southern Air Lines, Inc. v. Waterman Steamship Corp. · 333 U.S. 103 (1948)
• Haig v. Agee · 453 U.S. 280 (1981)
• United States v. Pink · 315 U.S. 203 (1942)
• Vieth v. Jubelirer · 541 U.S. 267 (2004)
• Goldwater Et Al. v. Carter, President of the United States, Et Al. · 444 U.S. 996 (1979)
• Cohens v. Virginia · 19 U.S. 264 (1821)
• Japan Whaling Ass'n v. American Cetacean Society · 478 U.S. 221 (1986)
• United States v. Wong Kim Ark · 169 U.S. 649 (1898)
• American Ins. Assn. v. Garamendi · 539 U.S. 396 (2003)
• Henderson v. Mayor of the City of New York Commissioners of Immigration v. North German Lloyd · 92 U.S. 259 (1876)
• National Collegiate Athletic Assn. v. Smith · 525 U.S. 459 (1999)
• United States v. Munoz-Flores · 495 U.S. 385 (1990)
• Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert · 330 U.S. 501 (1947)
• Railroad Comm'n of Tex. v. Pullman Co. · 312 U.S. 496 (1941)
• Sierra Club v. Morton · 405 U.S. 727 (1972)
• Powell v. McCormack · 395 U.S. 486 (1969)
• Ingraham v. Wright · 430 U.S. 651 (1977)
• DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. Cuno · 547 U.S. 332 (2006)
• Burford v. Sun Oil Co. · 319 U.S. 315 (1943)
• United States Parole Commission v. Geraghty · 445 U.S. 388 (1980)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Chadha · 462 U.S. 919 (1983)
• New Orleans Public Service, Inc. v. Council of City of New Orleans · 491 U.S. 350 (1989)
• Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer · 343 U.S. 579 (1952)
• United States v. Western Pacific Railroad · 352 U.S. 59 (1956)
• Freytag v. Commissioner · 501 U.S. 868 (1991)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• Laird v. Tatum · 408 U.S. 1 (1972)
• Diamond v. Charles · 476 U.S. 54 (1986)

Cited by

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

• Zivotofsky v. Kerry · 576 U.S. 1 (2015)
• Trump v. United States · 603 U.S. 593 (2024)
• Omnicare, Inc. v. Laborers Dist. Council Constr. Industry Pension Fund · 575 U.S. 175 (2015)
• Gamble v. United States · 587 U.S. 678 (2019)
• Rucho v. Common Cause · 588 U.S. 684 (2019)
• City of Arlington v. Fed. Commc'ns Comm'n · 569 U.S. 290 (2013)
• United States v. Windsor · 570 U.S. 744 (2013)
• Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Assn. · 575 U.S. 92 (2015)
• Department of Transportation v. Association of American Railroads · 575 U.S. 43 (2015)
• Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Comm'n · 576 U.S. 787 (2015)
• Bank Markazi v. Peterson · 578 U.S. 212 (2016)
• City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin, LLC · 596 U.S. 61 (2022)
• MOAC Mall Holdings LLC v. Transform Holdco LLC · 598 U.S. 288 (2023)
• United States v. Washington · 596 U.S. 832 (2022)
• Lucia v. SEC · 585 U.S. 237 (2018)
• United States v. Texas · 599 U.S. 670 (2023)
• Biden v. Texas · 597 U.S. 785 (2022)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2012). 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).