Papasan, Superintendent of Education, et al. v. Allain, Governor of Mississippi, et al.

Decided July 7, 1986. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 85-499 · 478 U.S. 265 (1986) · Cited 9,423 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.

• San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez · 411 U.S. 1 (1973)
• Edelman v. Jordan · 415 U.S. 651 (1974)
• Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman · 465 U.S. 89 (1984)
• Green v. Mansour · 474 U.S. 64 (1985)
• Milliken v. Bradley · 433 U.S. 267 (1977)
• Atascadero State Hospital v. Scanlon · 473 U.S. 234 (1985)
• Lassen v. Arizona Ex Rel. Arizona Highway Department · 385 U.S. 458 (1967)
• Scheuer v. Rhodes · 416 U.S. 232 (1974)
• Plyler v. Doe · 457 U.S. 202 (1982)
• Quern v. Jordan · 440 U.S. 332 (1979)
• Cruz v. Beto · 405 U.S. 319 (1972)
• Hutto v. Finney · 437 U.S. 678 (1978)
• Briscoe v. LaHue · 460 U.S. 325 (1983)
• Ford Motor Co. v. Department of Treasury · 323 U.S. 459 (1945)
• Kugler v. Helfant · 421 U.S. 117 (1975)
• Miree v. DeKalb County · 433 U.S. 25 (1977)
• Gardner v. Toilet Goods Assn., Inc. · 387 U.S. 167 (1967)
• Cory v. White · 457 U.S. 85 (1982)
• Holt Civic Club v. City of Tuscaloosa · 439 U.S. 60 (1978)
• Borax Consolidated, Ltd. v. Los Angeles · 296 U.S. 10 (1935)
• Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Chatters · 279 U.S. 320 (1929)

Cited by

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

• Idaho v. Coeur D'Alene Tribe of Idaho · 521 U.S. 261 (1997)
• Ashcroft v. Iqbal · 556 U.S. 662 (2009)
• Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly · 550 U.S. 544 (2007)
• Will v. Michigan Department of State Police · 491 U.S. 58 (1989)
• Missouri v. Jenkins Ex Rel. Agyei · 491 U.S. 274 (1989)
• Welch v. Texas Department of Highways & Public Transportation · 483 U.S. 468 (1987)
• Kadrmas v. Dickinson Public Schools · 487 U.S. 450 (1988)
• Wisconsin Department of Corrections v. Schacht · 524 U.S. 381 (1998)
• Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp. v. Feeney · 495 U.S. 299 (1990)

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).