O'Hare Truck Service, Incorporated, et al. v. City of Northlake et al.

Decided June 28, 1996. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 95-191 · 518 U.S. 712 (1996) · Cited 352 times

Holding

The protections of Elrod and Branti extend to an instance where government retaliates against a contractor, or a regular provider of services, for the exercise of rights of political association or the expression of political allegiance.

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 7–2.

“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.

• Elrod v. Burns · 427 U.S. 347 (1976)
• Branti v. Finkel · 445 U.S. 507 (1980)
• Perry v. Sindermann · 408 U.S. 593 (1972)
• Pickering v. Board of Ed. of Township High School Dist. 205, Will Cty. · 391 U.S. 563 (1968)
• Keyishian v. Board of Regents of Univ. of State of NY · 385 U.S. 589 (1967)
• Rutan v. Republican Party of Illinois · 497 U.S. 62 (1990)
• Lefkowitz v. Turley · 414 U.S. 70 (1973)
• Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · 429 U.S. 274 (1977)
• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Leatherman v. Tarrant County Narcotics Intelligence and Coordination Unit · 507 U.S. 163 (1993)
• Speiser v. Randall · 357 U.S. 513 (1958)
• Nationwide Mutual Insurance v. Darden · 503 U.S. 318 (1992)
• Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid · 490 U.S. 730 (1989)
• Democratic Party of United States v. Wisconsin Ex Rel. La Follette · 450 U.S. 107 (1981)

Cited by

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

• Wilkie v. Robbins · 551 U.S. 537 (2007)
• Janus v. State, County, and Municipal Employees · 585 U.S. 878 (2018)
• Vieth v. Jubelirer · 541 U.S. 267 (2004)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1996). 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).