Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. v. Shadi Dabit

Decided March 21, 2006. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 04-1371 · 547 U.S. 71 (2006) · Cited 550 times

Holding

The background, text, and purpose of SLUSA’s pre-emption provision demonstrate that SLUSA pre-empts state-law holder class-action claims of the kind Dabit alleges.

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 8–0.

“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.

• Blue Chip Stamps v. Manor Drug Stores · 421 U.S. 723 (1975)
• Securities & Exchange Commission v. Zandford · 535 U.S. 813 (2002)
• United States v. O'Hagan · 521 U.S. 642 (1997)
• Superintendent of Insurance of New York v. Bankers Life & Casualty Co. · 404 U.S. 6 (1971)
• Holmes v. Securities Investor Protection Corporation · 503 U.S. 258 (1992)
• Cannon v. University of Chicago · 441 U.S. 677 (1979)
• Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr · 518 U.S. 470 (1996)
• Dura Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Broudo · 544 U.S. 336 (2005)
• Bragdon v. Abbott · 524 U.S. 624 (1998)
• IBP, Inc. v. Alvarez · 546 U.S. 21 (2005)
• Bates v. Dow Agrosciences LLC · 544 U.S. 431 (2005)
• United States v. Naftalin · 441 U.S. 768 (1979)

Cited by

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

• Chadbourne & Parke LLP v. Troice · 571 U.S. 377 (2014)
• Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues & Rights, Ltd. · 551 U.S. 308 (2007)
• Home Depot U. S. A., Inc. v. Jackson · 587 U.S. 435 (2019)
• Stoneridge Investment Partners, LLC v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. · 552 U.S. 148 (2008)
• Rowe v. New Hampshire Motor Transport Ass'n · 552 U.S. 364 (2008)
• Robers v. United States · 572 U.S. 639 (2014)
• Mont v. United States · 587 U.S. 514 (2019)
• Amgen Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds · 568 U.S. 455 (2013)
• United States v. Hayes · 555 U.S. 415 (2009)

Official text

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

Explore from here

John Paul Stevens’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2006). 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).