National Society of Professional Engineers v. United States

Decided April 25, 1978. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 76-1767 · 435 U.S. 679 (1978) · Cited 898 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 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.

• Goldfarb v. Virginia State Bar · 421 U.S. 773 (1975)
• Continental T. v. Inc. v. GTE Sylvania Inc. · 433 U.S. 36 (1977)
• Bates v. State Bar of Arizona · 433 U.S. 350 (1977)
• United States v. Trans-Missouri Freight Assn. · 166 U.S. 290 (1897)
• United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. · 310 U.S. 150 (1940)
• Eastern Railroad Presidents Conference v. Noerr Motor Freight, Inc. · 365 U.S. 127 (1961)
• United Mine Workers v. Pennington · 381 U.S. 657 (1965)
• Giboney v. Empire Storage & Ice Co. · 336 U.S. 490 (1949)
• United States v. Topco Associates, Inc. · 405 U.S. 596 (1972)
• International Salt Co. v. United States · 332 U.S. 392 (1947)
• United States v. National Ass'n of Real Estate Boards · 339 U.S. 485 (1950)
• Appalachian Coals, Inc. v. United States · 288 U.S. 344 (1933)
• United States v. Joint Traffic Assn. · 171 U.S. 505 (1898)
• United States v. Container Corporation of America · 393 U.S. 333 (1969)
• Standard Oil Co. v. Federal Trade Commission · 340 U.S. 231 (1951)

Cited by

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

• National Collegiate Athletic Ass'n v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma · 468 U.S. 85 (1984)
• Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc. · 551 U.S. 877 (2007)
• Federal Trade Commission v. Indiana Federation of Dentists · 476 U.S. 447 (1986)
• National Collegiate Athletic Assn. v. Alston · 594 U.S. 69 (2021)
• Arizona v. Maricopa County Medical Society · 457 U.S. 332 (1982)
• California Dental Ass'n v. Federal Trade Commission · 526 U.S. 756 (1999)
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Inc. v. Hydrolevel Corp. · 456 U.S. 556 (1982)
• Federal Trade Commission v. Superior Court Trial Lawyers Ass'n · 493 U.S. 411 (1990)
• Broadcast Music, Inc. v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. · 441 U.S. 1 (1979)
• Madsen v. Women's Health Center, Inc. · 512 U.S. 753 (1994)
• Business Electronics Corp. v. Sharp Electronics Corp. · 485 U.S. 717 (1988)
• Gundy v. United States · 588 U.S. 128 (2019)
• Community Communications Co. v. City of Boulder · 455 U.S. 40 (1982)
• Briscoe v. LaHue · 460 U.S. 325 (1983)
• Atlantic Richfield Co. v. USA Petroleum Co. · 495 U.S. 328 (1990)
• City of Columbia v. Omni Outdoor Advertising, Inc. · 499 U.S. 365 (1991)
• Hoover v. Ronwin · 466 U.S. 558 (1984)
• Catalano, Inc. v. Target Sales, Inc. · 446 U.S. 643 (1980)
• Associated General Contractors of California, Inc. v. California State Council of Carpenters · 459 U.S. 519 (1983)
• Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance v. Russell · 473 U.S. 134 (1985)
• Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc. · 504 U.S. 374 (1992)
• Copperweld Corp. v. Independence Tube Corp. · 467 U.S. 752 (1984)
• Rufo v. Inmates of Suffolk County Jail · 502 U.S. 367 (1992)
• Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Assn. · 436 U.S. 447 (1978)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Claiborne Hardware Co. · 458 U.S. 886 (1982)
• Jefferson Parish Hospital District No. 2 v. Hyde · 466 U.S. 2 (1984)
• Texas Industries, Inc. v. Radcliff Materials, Inc. · 451 U.S. 630 (1981)
• Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. Transport Workers Union · 451 U.S. 77 (1981)
• Edenfield v. Fane · 507 U.S. 761 (1993)
• Guardians Assn. v. Civil Serv. Comm'n of New York City · 463 U.S. 582 (1983)

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).