Perry et al. v. Thomas

Decided June 15, 1987. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 86-566 · 482 U.S. 483 (1987) · Cited 1,187 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 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.

• Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. v. Ware · 414 U.S. 117 (1973)
• Southland Corp. v. Keating · 465 U.S. 1 (1984)
• Dean Witter Reynolds Inc. v. Byrd · 470 U.S. 213 (1985)
• Prima Paint Corp. v. Flood & Conklin Mfg. Co. · 388 U.S. 395 (1967)
• Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction Corp. · 460 U.S. 1 (1983)
• Erie Railroad v. Tompkins · 304 U.S. 64 (1938)
• Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc. · 473 U.S. 614 (1985)
• Wilko v. Swan · 346 U.S. 427 (1953)
• United States v. Monsanto · 491 U.S. 600 (1989)

Cited by

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

• Doctor's Associates, Inc. v. Casarotto · 517 U.S. 681 (1996)
• Allied-Bruce Terminix Cos., Inc. v. Dobson · 513 U.S. 265 (1995)
• Mastrobuono v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc. · 514 U.S. 52 (1995)
• Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp. · 500 U.S. 20 (1991)
• Preston v. Ferrer · 552 U.S. 346 (2008)
• Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela · 587 U.S. 176 (2019)
• Volt Info. Sciences, Inc. v. Bd. of Trustees of Leland Stanford Jr. U. · 489 U.S. 468 (1989)
• First Options of Chicago, Inc. v. Kaplan · 514 U.S. 938 (1995)
• Stolt-Nielsen S. A. v. AnimalFeeds International Corp. · 559 U.S. 662 (2010)
• Livadas v. Bradshaw · 512 U.S. 107 (1994)
• Arthur Andersen LLP v. Carlisle · 556 U.S. 624 (2009)
• Citizens Bank v. Alafabco, Inc. · 539 U.S. 52 (2003)
• Marmet Health Care Center, Inc. v. Brown · 565 U.S. 530 (2012)
• Kindred Nursing Centers, L. P. v. Clark · 581 U.S. 246 (2017)

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).