Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District 205, Will County

Decided June 3, 1968. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 510 · 391 U.S. 563 (1968) · Cited 6,021 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 8–1.

“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.

• Garrison v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 64 (1964)
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• Keyishian v. Board of Regents of Univ. of State of NY · 385 U.S. 589 (1967)
• Shelton v. Tucker · 364 U.S. 479 (1960)
• Time, Inc. v. Hill · 385 U.S. 374 (1967)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Button · 371 U.S. 415 (1963)
• Tumey v. Ohio · 273 U.S. 510 (1927)
• In Re Murchison. · 349 U.S. 133 (1955)
• St. Amant v. Thompson · 390 U.S. 727 (1968)
• Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts · 388 U.S. 130 (1967)
• Rosenblatt v. Baer · 383 U.S. 75 (1966)
• Linn v. United Plant Guard Workers of America, Local 114 · 383 U.S. 53 (1966)
• Wieman v. Updegraff · 344 U.S. 183 (1952)
• Norris v. Alabama · 294 U.S. 587 (1935)
• Wood v. Georgia · 370 U.S. 375 (1962)
• Pennekamp v. Florida · 328 U.S. 331 (1946)

Cited by

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

• Garcetti v. Ceballos · 547 U.S. 410 (2006)
• Connick Ex Rel. Parish of Orleans v. Myers · 461 U.S. 138 (1983)
• United States v. National Treasury Employees Union · 513 U.S. 454 (1995)
• Board of Comm'rs, Wabaunsee Cty. v. Umbehr · 518 U.S. 668 (1996)
• Arnett v. Kennedy · 416 U.S. 134 (1974)
• Rankin v. McPherson · 483 U.S. 378 (1987)
• Waters v. Churchill · 511 U.S. 661 (1994)
• Givhan v. Western Line Consolidated School District · 439 U.S. 410 (1979)
• Janus v. State, County, and Municipal Employees · 585 U.S. 878 (2018)
• Rutan v. Republican Party of Illinois · 497 U.S. 62 (1990)
• Healy v. James · 408 U.S. 169 (1972)
• Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri · 564 U.S. 379 (2011)
• Crawford-El v. Britton · 523 U.S. 574 (1998)
• O'Hare Truck Service, Inc. v. City of Northlake · 518 U.S. 712 (1996)
• Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist. · 597 U.S. 507 (2022)
• Withrow v. Larkin · 421 U.S. 35 (1975)
• Abood v. Detroit Board of Education · 431 U.S. 209 (1977)
• City of San Diego v. Roe · 543 U.S. 77 (2004)
• Heffernan v. City of Paterson · 578 U.S. 266 (2016)
• Board of Regents of State Colleges v. Roth · 408 U.S. 564 (1972)
• Elrod v. Burns · 427 U.S. 347 (1976)
• District of Columbia v. Heller · 554 U.S. 570 (2008)
• Perry Education Ass'n v. Perry Local Educators' Ass'n · 460 U.S. 37 (1983)
• Wilkie v. Robbins · 551 U.S. 537 (2007)
• Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · 429 U.S. 274 (1977)
• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• United States Civil Service Commission v. National Ass'n of Letter Carriers · 413 U.S. 548 (1973)
• Dolan v. City of Tigard · 512 U.S. 374 (1994)
• Clements v. Fashing · 457 U.S. 957 (1982)
• United States v. Alvarez · 567 U.S. 709 (2012)

Official text

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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).