Pierce County, Washington v. Ignacio Guillen, Legal Guardian of Jennifer Guillen and Alma Guillen, Minors, et al.

Decided January 14, 2003. Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 01-1229 · 537 U.S. 129 (2003) · Cited 154 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 9–0.

“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.

• Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn · 420 U.S. 469 (1975)
• United States v. Lopez · 514 U.S. 549 (1995)
• Baldrige v. Shapiro · 455 U.S. 345 (1982)
• United States v. Nixon · 418 U.S. 683 (1974)
• Stone v. Immigration & Naturalization Service · 514 U.S. 386 (1995)
• United States v. Darby · 312 U.S. 100 (1941)
• Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States · 379 U.S. 241 (1964)
• Asarco Inc. v. Kadish · 490 U.S. 605 (1989)
• Perez v. United States · 402 U.S. 146 (1971)
• University of Pennsylvania v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission · 493 U.S. 182 (1990)
• Houston, East & West Texas Railway Co. v. United States · 234 U.S. 342 (1914)
• Hodel v. Indiana · 452 U.S. 314 (1981)
• Southern Railway Co. v. United States · 222 U.S. 20 (1911)
• Duquesne Light Co. v. Barasch · 488 U.S. 299 (1989)
• Market Street Railway Co. v. Railroad Commission of California · 324 U.S. 548 (1945)
• St. Regis Paper Co. v. United States · 368 U.S. 208 (1961)
• National Collegiate Athletic Assn. v. Smith · 525 U.S. 459 (1999)

Cited by

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

• Muehler v. Mena · 544 U.S. 93 (2005)
• Rapanos v. United States · 547 U.S. 715 (2006)
• Illinois v. Lidster · 540 U.S. 419 (2004)
• Moore v. Harper · 600 U.S. 1 (2023)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Clarence Thomas’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

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).