National Labor Relations Board v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago et al.

Decided March 21, 1979. Warren Earl Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 77-752 · 440 U.S. 490 (1979) · Cited 688 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 5–4.

“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.

• McCulloch v. Sociedad Nacional De Marineros De Honduras · 372 U.S. 10 (1963)
• Lemon v. Kurtzman · 403 U.S. 602 (1971)
• Associated Press v. National Labor Relations Board · 301 U.S. 103 (1937)
• International Ass'n of MacHinists v. Street · 367 U.S. 740 (1961)
• Polish National Alliance of the United States v. National Labor Relations Board · 322 U.S. 643 (1944)
• George Moore Ice Cream Co. v. Rose · 289 U.S. 373 (1933)
• Yu Cong Eng v. Trinidad · 271 U.S. 500 (1926)
• Walz v. Tax Comm'n of City of New York · 397 U.S. 664 (1970)
• Wolman v. Walter · 433 U.S. 229 (1977)
• Benz v. Compania Naviera Hidalgo, S. A. · 353 U.S. 138 (1957)
• Wisconsin v. Yoder · 406 U.S. 205 (1972)
• Sierra Club v. Morton · 405 U.S. 727 (1972)
• Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority · 297 U.S. 288 (1936)
• Crowell v. Benson · 285 U.S. 22 (1932)
• Curtis v. Loether · 415 U.S. 189 (1974)
• Johnson v. Robison · 415 U.S. 361 (1974)
• Aptheker v. Secretary of State · 378 U.S. 500 (1964)
• Shapiro v. United States · 335 U.S. 1 (1948)
• National Labor Relations Board v. J. Weingarten, Inc. · 420 U.S. 251 (1975)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Seven-Up Bottling Co. of Miami, Inc. · 344 U.S. 344 (1953)
• Pernell v. Southall Realty · 416 U.S. 363 (1974)
• Meek v. Pittenger · 421 U.S. 349 (1975)
• Murray v. Schooner Charming Betsy · 6 U.S. 64 (1804)
• Guss v. Utah Labor Relations Board · 353 U.S. 1 (1957)
• Jay v. Boyd · 351 U.S. 345 (1956)
• United States v. Sullivan · 332 U.S. 689 (1948)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Reliance Fuel Oil Corp. · 371 U.S. 224 (1963)

Cited by

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

• Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. v. Florida Gulf Coast Building & Construction Trades Council · 485 U.S. 568 (1988)
• Rust v. Sullivan · 500 U.S. 173 (1991)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. · 556 U.S. 502 (2009)
• Ohio Civil Rights Commission v. Dayton Christian Schools, Inc. · 477 U.S. 619 (1986)
• Bob Jones University v. United States · 461 U.S. 574 (1983)
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Arabian American Oil Co. · 499 U.S. 244 (1991)
• Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation v. Secretary of Labor · 471 U.S. 290 (1985)
• Heckler v. Mathews · 465 U.S. 728 (1984)
• City of Rome v. United States · 446 U.S. 156 (1980)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Yeshiva University · 444 U.S. 672 (1980)
• Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Environment · 523 U.S. 83 (1998)
• Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida · 517 U.S. 44 (1996)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. St. Cyr · 533 U.S. 289 (2001)
• Rowland v. California Men's Colony, Unit II Men's Advisory Council · 506 U.S. 194 (1993)
• Custis v. United States · 511 U.S. 485 (1994)
• Public Citizen v. United States Department of Justice · 491 U.S. 440 (1989)
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Schor · 478 U.S. 833 (1986)
• Larson v. Valente · 456 U.S. 228 (1982)
• Clark v. Martinez · 543 U.S. 371 (2005)
• Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered v. United States · 491 U.S. 617 (1989)
• McConnell v. Federal Election Commission · 540 U.S. 93 (2003)
• United States v. Security Industrial Bank · 459 U.S. 70 (1982)
• Marsh v. Chambers · 463 U.S. 783 (1983)
• Allentown MacK Sales & Service, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board · 522 U.S. 359 (1998)
• Board of Ed. of Westside Community Schools (Dist. 66) v. Mergens · 496 U.S. 226 (1990)
• Regan v. Time, Inc. · 468 U.S. 641 (1984)
• United States v. Monsanto · 491 U.S. 600 (1989)
• Bowen v. Roy · 476 U.S. 693 (1986)
• Communications Workers of America v. Beck · 487 U.S. 735 (1988)
• Edmond v. United States · 520 U.S. 651 (1997)

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).