Patsy v. Board of Regents of the State of Florida

Decided June 21, 1982. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 80-1874 · 457 U.S. 496 (1982) · Cited 1,854 times

Holding

Exhaustion of state administrative remedies is not a prerequisite to an action under 1983.

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.

• McKart v. United States · 395 U.S. 185 (1969)
• McNeese v. Board of Education for Community Unit School District 187 Cahokia · 373 U.S. 668 (1963)
• Hopkins v. Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina · 221 U.S. 636 (1911)
• Sosna v. Iowa · 419 U.S. 393 (1975)
• Florida Department of Health & Rehabilitative Services v. Florida Nursing Home Ass'n · 450 U.S. 147 (1981)
• Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · 429 U.S. 274 (1977)
• Edelman v. Jordan · 415 U.S. 651 (1974)
• Kennecott Copper Corp. v. State Tax Commission · 327 U.S. 573 (1946)
• Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs. · 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
• Younger v. Harris · 401 U.S. 37 (1971)
• Myers v. Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. · 303 U.S. 41 (1938)
• Ford Motor Co. v. Department of Treasury · 323 U.S. 459 (1945)
• Gibson v. Berryhill · 411 U.S. 564 (1973)
• Great Northern Life Insurance Co. v. Read · 322 U.S. 47 (1944)
• Monroe v. Pape · 365 U.S. 167 (1961)
• Alabama v. Pugh · 438 U.S. 781 (1978)
• WILWORDING Et Al. v. SWENSON, WARDEN · 404 U.S. 249 (1971)
• Barry v. Barchi · 443 U.S. 55 (1979)
• Ex Parte State of New York, No. 1 · 256 U.S. 490 (1921)
• Petty v. Tennessee-Missouri Bridge Commission · 359 U.S. 275 (1959)
• Principality of Monaco v. Mississippi · 292 U.S. 313 (1934)
• Damico v. California · 389 U.S. 416 (1967)
• United Steelworkers of America v. R. H. Bouligny, Inc. · 382 U.S. 145 (1965)
• Parratt v. Taylor · 451 U.S. 527 (1981)
• Quern v. Jordan · 440 U.S. 332 (1979)
• United States v. Sherwood · 312 U.S. 584 (1941)
• Railroad Comm'n of Tex. v. Pullman Co. · 312 U.S. 496 (1941)
• Steffel v. Thompson · 415 U.S. 452 (1974)
• Huffman v. Pursue, Ltd. · 420 U.S. 592 (1975)
• Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer · 427 U.S. 445 (1976)

Cited by

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

• Felder v. Casey · 487 U.S. 131 (1988)
• Webb v. County Board of Education · 471 U.S. 234 (1985)
• McCarthy v. Madigan · 503 U.S. 140 (1992)
• Heck v. Humphrey · 512 U.S. 477 (1994)
• Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City · 473 U.S. 172 (1985)
• Williams v. Reed · 604 U.S. 168 (2025)
• Knick v. Township of Scott · 588 U.S. 180 (2019)
• Haywood v. Drown · 556 U.S. 729 (2009)
• Hudson v. Palmer · 468 U.S. 517 (1984)
• Porter v. Nussle · 534 U.S. 516 (2002)
• Wisconsin Department of Corrections v. Schacht · 524 U.S. 381 (1998)
• Smith v. Robinson · 468 U.S. 992 (1984)
• Ohio Civil Rights Commission v. Dayton Christian Schools, Inc. · 477 U.S. 619 (1986)
• Haring v. Prosise · 462 U.S. 306 (1983)
• Coit Independence Joint Venture v. Federal Savings & Loan Insurance · 489 U.S. 561 (1989)
• Will v. Michigan Department of State Police · 491 U.S. 58 (1989)
• Jones v. Bock · 549 U.S. 199 (2007)
• Hudson v. McMillian · 503 U.S. 1 (1992)
• City of Chicago v. International College of Surgeons · 522 U.S. 156 (1997)
• Wilson v. Garcia · 471 U.S. 261 (1985)
• Wilkinson v. Dotson · 544 U.S. 74 (2005)
• Patterson v. McLean Credit Union · 491 U.S. 164 (1989)
• Smith v. Wade · 461 U.S. 30 (1983)
• McDonald v. City of Chicago · 561 U.S. 742 (2010)
• Collins v. Youngblood · 497 U.S. 37 (1990)
• Idaho v. Coeur D'Alene Tribe of Idaho · 521 U.S. 261 (1997)
• Wilder v. Virginia Hospital Assn. · 496 U.S. 498 (1990)
• University of Tennessee v. Elliott · 478 U.S. 788 (1986)
• Regents of the University of Michigan v. Ewing · 474 U.S. 214 (1985)
• Pegram v. Herdrich · 530 U.S. 211 (2000)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1982). 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).