Orr v. Orr

Decided March 5, 1979. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 77-1119 · 440 U.S. 268 (1979) · Cited 714 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 6–3.

“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.

• Doremus v. Board of Ed. of Hawthorne · 342 U.S. 429 (1952)
• Califano v. Webster · 430 U.S. 313 (1977)
• Stanton v. Stanton · 421 U.S. 7 (1975)
• Craig v. Boren · 429 U.S. 190 (1976)
• Warth v. Seldin · 422 U.S. 490 (1975)
• Simon v. Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights Organization · 426 U.S. 26 (1976)
• Linda R. S. v. Richard D. · 410 U.S. 614 (1973)
• Cicenia v. Lagay · 357 U.S. 504 (1958)
• Kahn v. Shevin · 416 U.S. 351 (1974)
• Reed v. Reed · 404 U.S. 71 (1971)
• Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, Inc. · 438 U.S. 59 (1978)
• Indiana Ex Rel. Anderson v. Brand · 303 U.S. 95 (1938)
• Supervisors v. Stanley · 105 U.S. 305 (1882)
• Baker v. Carr · 369 U.S. 186 (1962)
• Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. · 429 U.S. 252 (1977)
• Railroad Comm'n of Tex. v. Pullman Co. · 312 U.S. 496 (1941)
• Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld · 420 U.S. 636 (1975)
• Califano v. Goldfarb · 430 U.S. 199 (1977)
• Beecher v. Alabama · 389 U.S. 35 (1967)
• Miranda v. Arizona · 384 U.S. 436 (1966)
• South Dakota v. Opperman · 428 U.S. 364 (1976)
• California v. Green · 399 U.S. 149 (1970)
• Frontiero v. Richardson · 411 U.S. 677 (1973)
• Steele v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad · 323 U.S. 192 (1944)
• United States v. Butler · 297 U.S. 1 (1936)
• Spector Motor Service, Inc. v. McLaughlin · 323 U.S. 101 (1944)
• Reetz v. Bozanich · 397 U.S. 82 (1970)
• Jenkins v. Georgia · 418 U.S. 153 (1974)
• Raley v. Ohio · 360 U.S. 423 (1959)
• United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburgh, Inc. v. Carey · 430 U.S. 144 (1977)

Cited by

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

• Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County · 450 U.S. 464 (1981)
• Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan · 458 U.S. 718 (1982)
• Personnel Administrator of Mass. v. Feeney · 442 U.S. 256 (1979)
• Obergefell v. Hodges · 576 U.S. 644 (2015)
• Rostker v. Goldberg · 453 U.S. 57 (1981)
• Sessions v. Morales-Santana · 582 U.S. 47 (2017)
• KIRCHBERG v. FEENSTRA Et Al. · 450 U.S. 455 (1981)
• Mills v. Maryland · 486 U.S. 367 (1988)
• Caban v. Mohammed · 441 U.S. 380 (1979)
• Arkansas Writers' Project, Inc. v. Ragland · 481 U.S. 221 (1987)
• Parham v. Hughes · 441 U.S. 347 (1979)
• Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. Federal Communications Commission · 497 U.S. 547 (1990)
• Califano v. Westcott · 443 U.S. 76 (1979)
• Wengler v. Druggists Mutual Insurance · 446 U.S. 142 (1980)
• United States v. Skrmetti · 605 U.S. 495 (2025)
• Cannon v. University of Chicago · 441 U.S. 677 (1979)
• Schad v. Arizona · 501 U.S. 624 (1991)
• United States v. Virginia · 518 U.S. 515 (1996)
• Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc. · 472 U.S. 749 (1985)
• Grutter v. Bollinger · 539 U.S. 306 (2003)
• Heckler v. Mathews · 465 U.S. 728 (1984)
• Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock · 489 U.S. 1 (1989)
• Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. · 501 U.S. 663 (1991)
• Miller v. Albright · 523 U.S. 420 (1998)
• Tuan Anh Nguyen v. Immigration & Naturalization Service · 533 U.S. 53 (2001)
• American Export Lines, Inc. v. Alvez · 446 U.S. 274 (1980)

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).