National Treasury Employees Union et al. v. Von Raab, Commissioner, United States Customs Service

Decided March 21, 1989. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 86-1879 · 489 U.S. 656 (1989) · Cited 1,188 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.

• O'CONNOR v. Ortega · 480 U.S. 709 (1987)
• United States v. Martinez-Fuerte · 428 U.S. 543 (1976)
• Delaware v. Prouse · 440 U.S. 648 (1979)
• Camara v. Municipal Court of City and County of San Francisco · 387 U.S. 523 (1967)
• United States v. Montoya De Hernandez · 473 U.S. 531 (1985)
• Olmstead v. United States · 277 U.S. 438 (1928)
• Bell v. Wolfish · 441 U.S. 520 (1979)
• South Dakota v. Opperman · 428 U.S. 364 (1976)
• New Jersey v. T. L. O. · 469 U.S. 325 (1985)
• Colorado v. Bertine · 479 U.S. 367 (1987)
• Department of the Navy v. Egan · 484 U.S. 518 (1988)
• United States v. Ramsey · 431 U.S. 606 (1977)
• Carroll v. United States · 267 U.S. 132 (1925)
• Florida v. Royer · 460 U.S. 491 (1983)
• United States v. Mendenhall · 446 U.S. 544 (1980)
• Connick Ex Rel. Parish of Orleans v. Myers · 461 U.S. 138 (1983)
• Tennessee v. Garner · 471 U.S. 1 (1985)
• Johnson v. United States · 333 U.S. 10 (1948)
• Griffin v. Wisconsin · 483 U.S. 868 (1987)
• Parker v. Levy · 417 U.S. 733 (1974)
• Thorpe v. Housing Authority of Durham · 393 U.S. 268 (1969)
• United States v. Karo · 468 U.S. 705 (1984)
• California Bankers Assn. v. Shultz · 416 U.S. 21 (1974)
• United States v. Robel · 389 U.S. 258 (1967)
• Wyman v. James · 400 U.S. 309 (1971)
• Snepp v. United States · 444 U.S. 507 (1980)

Cited by

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

• Chandler v. Miller · 520 U.S. 305 (1997)
• Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton · 515 U.S. 646 (1995)
• Ferguson v. City of Charleston · 532 U.S. 67 (2001)
• Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz · 496 U.S. 444 (1990)
• Board of Education of Independent School District No. 92 of Pottawatomie County v. Earls · 536 U.S. 822 (2002)
• Maryland v. King · 569 U.S. 435 (2013)
• City of Indianapolis v. Edmond · 531 U.S. 32 (2000)
• Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith · 494 U.S. 872 (1990)
• California v. Acevedo · 500 U.S. 565 (1991)
• Landgraf v. USI Film Products · 511 U.S. 244 (1994)
• Harmelin v. Michigan · 501 U.S. 957 (1991)
• County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union · 492 U.S. 573 (1989)
• Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. v. Bonjorno · 494 U.S. 827 (1990)
• Samson v. California · 547 U.S. 843 (2006)

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).