Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati et al.

Decided March 25, 1986. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 84-1160 · 475 U.S. 469 (1986) · Cited 6,061 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.

• Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs. · 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
• Steagald v. United States · 451 U.S. 204 (1981)
• City of Oklahoma v. Tuttle · 471 U.S. 808 (1985)
• Owen v. City of Independence · 445 U.S. 622 (1980)
• Imbler v. Pachtman · 424 U.S. 409 (1976)
• City of Newport v. Fact Concerts, Inc. · 453 U.S. 247 (1981)
• Chevron Oil Co. v. Huson · 404 U.S. 97 (1971)
• Solem v. Stumes · 465 U.S. 638 (1984)
• Payton v. New York · 445 U.S. 573 (1980)
• Monroe v. Pape · 365 U.S. 167 (1961)
• Procunier v. Navarette · 434 U.S. 555 (1978)
• Dalia v. United States · 441 U.S. 238 (1979)
• Miranda v. Arizona · 384 U.S. 436 (1966)
• Harlow v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 800 (1982)
• Escobedo v. Illinois · 378 U.S. 478 (1964)
• Griffin v. Illinois · 351 U.S. 12 (1956)
• Johnson v. New Jersey · 384 U.S. 719 (1966)
• Bishop v. Wood · 426 U.S. 341 (1976)
• Blonder-Tongue Laboratories, Inc. v. University of Illinois Foundation · 402 U.S. 313 (1971)
• United States v. S.A. Empresa De Viacao Aerea Rio Grandense · 467 U.S. 797 (1984)
• United States v. Johnson · 457 U.S. 537 (1982)
• Brockett v. Spokane Arcades, Inc. · 472 U.S. 491 (1985)
• Shea v. Louisiana · 470 U.S. 51 (1985)

Cited by

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

• City of St. Louis v. Praprotnik · 485 U.S. 112 (1988)
• Board of the County Commissioners of Bryan County v. Brown · 520 U.S. 397 (1997)
• Jett v. Dallas Independent School District · 491 U.S. 701 (1989)
• McMillian v. Monroe County · 520 U.S. 781 (1997)
• Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela · 587 U.S. 176 (2019)
• Expressions Hair Design v. Schneiderman · 581 U.S. 37 (2017)
• City of Canton v. Harris · 489 U.S. 378 (1989)
• Collins v. City of Harker Heights · 503 U.S. 115 (1992)
• Lozman v. Riviera Beach · 585 U.S. 87 (2018)
• Smith v. Murray · 477 U.S. 527 (1986)
• South Carolina v. Catawba Indian Tribe, Inc. · 476 U.S. 498 (1986)

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).