Presbyterian Church in the United States et al. v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church et al.
Decided January 27, 1969. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 71 · 393 U.S. 440 (1969) · Cited 850 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.
Majority · 8
- William Joseph Brennan Jr. · delivered the opinion of the Court
- Abe Fortas
- Byron Raymond White
- Earl Warren
- Hugo Lafayette Black
- Potter Stewart
- Thurgood Marshall
- William Orville Douglas
Concurring · 1
- John Marshall Harlan · filed a concurring opinion
“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.
- Watson v. Jones · 80 U.S. 679 (1872)
- Kedroff v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church in North America · 344 U.S. 94 (1952)
- Gonzalez v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila · 280 U.S. 1 (1929)
- Erie Railroad v. Tompkins · 304 U.S. 64 (1938)
- Kreshik v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral of Russian Orthodox Church of North America · 363 U.S. 190 (1960)
Cited by
Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.
- Jones v. Wolf · 443 U.S. 595 (1979)
- Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese for United States and Canada v. Milivojevich · 426 U.S. 696 (1976)
- Walz v. Tax Comm'n of City of New York · 397 U.S. 664 (1970)
- Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith · 494 U.S. 872 (1990)
- Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah · 508 U.S. 520 (1993)
- Hernandez v. Commissioner · 490 U.S. 680 (1989)
- Trump v. Hawaii · 585 U.S. 667 (2018)
- Marsh v. Chambers · 463 U.S. 783 (1983)
- Gillette v. United States · 401 U.S. 437 (1971)
- Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock · 489 U.S. 1 (1989)
- McDaniel v. Paty · 435 U.S. 618 (1978)
- Evans v. Abney · 396 U.S. 435 (1970)
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).