Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District Number One v. Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General, et al.

Decided June 22, 2009. John Glover Roberts Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 08-322 · 557 U.S. 193 (2009) · Cited 241 times

Holding

IDEA authorizes reimbursement for private special-education services when a public school fails to provide a FAPE and the private-school placement is appropriate, regardless of whether the child previously received special-education services through the public school.

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.

• South Carolina v. Katzenbach · 383 U.S. 301 (1966)
• City of Rome v. United States · 446 U.S. 156 (1980)
• United States v. Sheffield Bd. of Comm'rs · 435 U.S. 110 (1978)
• City of Boerne v. Flores · 521 U.S. 507 (1997)
• Miller v. Johnson · 515 U.S. 900 (1995)
• Georgia v. United States · 411 U.S. 526 (1973)
• Allen v. State Board of Elections · 393 U.S. 544 (1969)
• Clark v. Martinez · 543 U.S. 371 (2005)
• City of Mobile v. Bolden · 446 U.S. 55 (1980)
• Blodgett v. Holden · 275 U.S. 142 (1927)
• Rice v. Cayetano · 528 U.S. 495 (2000)
• Escambia County v. McMillan · 466 U.S. 48 (1984)
• Briscoe v. Bell · 432 U.S. 404 (1977)
• Dougherty County Bd. of Ed. v. White · 439 U.S. 32 (1978)
• Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority · 297 U.S. 288 (1936)
• Bartlett v. Strickland · 556 U.S. 1 (2009)
• Board of Trustees of Univ. of Ala. v. Garrett · 531 U.S. 356 (2001)
• Alden v. Maine · 527 U.S. 706 (1999)
• Home Building & Loan Assn. v. Blaisdell · 290 U.S. 398 (1934)
• Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents · 528 U.S. 62 (2000)
• Gregory v. Ashcroft · 501 U.S. 452 (1991)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• United States v. Cruikshank · 92 U.S. 542 (1876)
• Katzenbach v. Morgan · 384 U.S. 641 (1966)
• Oregon v. Mitchell · 400 U.S. 112 (1970)
• Rostker v. Goldberg · 453 U.S. 57 (1981)
• U. S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton · 514 U.S. 779 (1995)
• Burns v. Richardson · 384 U.S. 73 (1966)
• Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Education Expense Board v. College Savings Bank · 527 U.S. 627 (1999)
• Mayor of Philadelphia v. Educational Equality League · 415 U.S. 605 (1974)

Cited by

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

• Shelby County v. Holder · 570 U.S. 529 (2013)
• Bethune-Hill v. Virginia State Bd. of Elections · 580 U.S. 178 (2017)
• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission · 558 U.S. 310 (2010)
• Obergefell v. Hodges · 576 U.S. 644 (2015)
• Voisine v. United States · 579 U.S. 686 (2016)
• Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle · 579 U.S. 59 (2016)
• Allen v. Milligan · 599 U.S. 1 (2023)
• Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee · 594 U.S. 647 (2021)
• Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety · 597 U.S. 580 (2022)

Official text

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

Explore from here

John Glover Roberts Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2009). 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).