Public Citizen v. United States Department of Justice et al.

Decided June 21, 1989. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 88-429 · 491 U.S. 440 (1989) · Cited 992 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 8–0.

“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.

• General Electric Co. v. Gilbert · 429 U.S. 125 (1976)
• Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States · 143 U.S. 457 (1892)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Chadha · 462 U.S. 919 (1983)
• United States v. Klein · 80 U.S. 128 (1872)
• Nixon v. Administrator of General Services · 433 U.S. 425 (1977)
• United States v. Locke · 471 U.S. 84 (1985)
• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Morrison v. Olson · 487 U.S. 654 (1988)
• Crowell v. Benson · 285 U.S. 22 (1932)
• Federal Bureau of Investigation v. Abramson · 456 U.S. 615 (1982)
• Schick v. Reed · 419 U.S. 256 (1974)
• United States v. Nixon · 418 U.S. 683 (1974)
• Udall v. Tallman · 380 U.S. 1 (1965)
• Mistretta v. United States · 488 U.S. 361 (1989)
• United States v. American Trucking Associations · 310 U.S. 534 (1940)
• United States Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press · 489 U.S. 749 (1989)
• Department of the Air Force v. Rose · 425 U.S. 352 (1976)
• Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer · 343 U.S. 579 (1952)
• Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. v. Florida Gulf Coast Building & Construction Trades Council · 485 U.S. 568 (1988)
• Myers v. United States · 272 U.S. 52 (1926)
• Watt v. Alaska · 451 U.S. 259 (1981)
• Ex Parte Garland · 71 U.S. 333 (1867)
• Norwegian Nitrogen Products Co. v. United States · 288 U.S. 294 (1933)
• International Ass'n of MacHinists v. Street · 367 U.S. 740 (1961)
• Eu v. San Francisco County Democratic Central Committee · 489 U.S. 214 (1989)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Catholic Bishop · 440 U.S. 490 (1979)
• Green v. Bock Laundry MacHine Co. · 490 U.S. 504 (1989)
• Humphrey's v. United States · 295 U.S. 602 (1935)
• Markham v. Cabell · 326 U.S. 404 (1946)
• Power Reactor Development Co. v. International Union of Electrical, Radio & MacHine Workers · 367 U.S. 396 (1961)

Cited by

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

• Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins · 578 U.S. 330 (2016)
• TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez · 594 U.S. 413 (2021)
• United States v. Davis · 588 U.S. 445 (2019)
• Chapman v. United States · 500 U.S. 453 (1991)
• Cheney v. United States District Court for District of Columbia · 542 U.S. 367 (2004)
• Concrete Pipe & Products of Cal., Inc. v. Construction Laborers Pension Trust for Southern Cal. · 508 U.S. 602 (1993)
• Federal Election Commission v. Akins · 524 U.S. 11 (1998)
• Chisom v. Roemer · 501 U.S. 380 (1991)
• Gollust v. Mendell · 501 U.S. 115 (1991)
• United States v. Lopez · 514 U.S. 549 (1995)
• Cheek v. United States · 498 U.S. 192 (1991)
• United States v. X-Citement Video, Inc. · 513 U.S. 64 (1994)
• Clark v. Martinez · 543 U.S. 371 (2005)
• Webster v. Reproductive Health Services · 492 U.S. 490 (1989)
• International Primate Protection League v. Administrators of Tulane Educational Fund · 500 U.S. 72 (1991)
• Small v. United States · 544 U.S. 385 (2005)
• Trump v. United States · 603 U.S. 593 (2024)
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Assn. of America, Ltd. · 601 U.S. 416 (2024)

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).