Personnel Administrator of Massachusetts et al. v. Feeney

Decided June 5, 1979. Potter Stewart delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 78-233 · 442 U.S. 256 (1979) · Cited 2,187 times

Holding

Massachusetts, in granting an absolute lifetime preference to veterans, has not discriminated against women in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

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.

• Washington v. Davis · 426 U.S. 229 (1976)
• Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. · 429 U.S. 252 (1977)
• Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld · 420 U.S. 636 (1975)
• Craig v. Boren · 429 U.S. 190 (1976)
• Frontiero v. Richardson · 411 U.S. 677 (1973)
• Caban v. Mohammed · 441 U.S. 380 (1979)
• Orr v. Orr · 440 U.S. 268 (1979)
• Califano v. Goldfarb · 430 U.S. 199 (1977)
• Yick Wo v. Hopkins · 118 U.S. 356 (1886)
• Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody · 422 U.S. 405 (1975)
• Massachusetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia · 427 U.S. 307 (1976)
• Reed v. Reed · 404 U.S. 71 (1971)
• Vance v. Bradley · 440 U.S. 93 (1979)
• Gomillion v. Lightfoot · 364 U.S. 339 (1960)
• Trimble v. Gordon · 430 U.S. 762 (1977)
• New York City Transit Authority v. Beazer · 440 U.S. 568 (1979)
• Palmer v. Thompson · 403 U.S. 217 (1971)
• Schlesinger v. Ballard · 419 U.S. 498 (1975)
• Califano v. Webster · 430 U.S. 313 (1977)
• Brown v. Board of Education · 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
• Dandridge v. Williams · 397 U.S. 471 (1970)
• Griffin v. Illinois · 351 U.S. 12 (1956)
• San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez · 411 U.S. 1 (1973)
• United States v. O'Brien · 391 U.S. 367 (1968)
• Shapiro v. Thompson · 394 U.S. 618 (1969)
• Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education · 402 U.S. 1 (1971)
• Castaneda v. Partida · 430 U.S. 482 (1977)
• Alexander v. Louisiana · 405 U.S. 625 (1972)
• Railway Express Agency, Inc. v. New York · 336 U.S. 106 (1949)
• Mathews v. Lucas · 427 U.S. 495 (1976)

Cited by

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

• City of Mobile v. Bolden · 446 U.S. 55 (1980)
• Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic · 506 U.S. 263 (1993)
• United States v. Skrmetti · 605 U.S. 495 (2025)
• Ashcroft v. Iqbal · 556 U.S. 662 (2009)
• Columbus Board of Education v. Penick · 443 U.S. 449 (1979)
• Wayte v. United States · 470 U.S. 598 (1985)
• Goodman v. Lukens Steel Co. · 482 U.S. 656 (1987)
• Shaw v. Reno · 509 U.S. 630 (1993)
• Bush v. Vera · 517 U.S. 952 (1996)
• Attorney General of New York v. Soto-Lopez · 476 U.S. 898 (1986)
• Washington v. Seattle School District No. 1 · 458 U.S. 457 (1982)
• Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah · 508 U.S. 520 (1993)
• United States v. Virginia · 518 U.S. 515 (1996)
• Equal Emp't Opportunity Comm'n v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc. · 575 U.S. 768 (2015)
• Vacco v. Quill · 521 U.S. 793 (1997)
• Hooper v. Bernalillo County Assessor · 472 U.S. 612 (1985)
• KIRCHBERG v. FEENSTRA Et Al. · 450 U.S. 455 (1981)
• Crawford v. Board of Ed. of Los Angeles · 458 U.S. 527 (1982)
• Hernandez v. New York · 500 U.S. 352 (1991)
• Ricci v. DeStefano · 557 U.S. 557 (2009)
• Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena · 515 U.S. 200 (1995)
• Regan v. Taxation With Representation of Washington · 461 U.S. 540 (1983)
• League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry · 548 U.S. 399 (2006)
• Miller v. Albright · 523 U.S. 420 (1998)
• Toll v. Moreno · 458 U.S. 1 (1982)
• Lewis v. Casey · 518 U.S. 343 (1996)
• City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc. · 473 U.S. 432 (1985)
• Crawford-El v. Britton · 523 U.S. 574 (1998)
• McCleskey v. Kemp · 481 U.S. 279 (1987)
• Harris v. McRae · 448 U.S. 297 (1980)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1979). 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).