Rankin et al. v. McPherson

Decided June 24, 1987. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 85-2068 · 483 U.S. 378 (1987) · Cited 1,766 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 5–4.

“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.

• Connick Ex Rel. Parish of Orleans v. Myers · 461 U.S. 138 (1983)
• Pickering v. Board of Ed. of Township High School Dist. 205, Will Cty. · 391 U.S. 563 (1968)
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · 376 U.S. 254 (1964)
• Perry v. Sindermann · 408 U.S. 593 (1972)
• Givhan v. Western Line Consolidated School District · 439 U.S. 410 (1979)
• Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · 429 U.S. 274 (1977)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire · 315 U.S. 568 (1942)
• Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc. · 466 U.S. 485 (1984)
• Arnett v. Kennedy · 416 U.S. 134 (1974)
• Garrison v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 64 (1964)
• First Nat. Bank of Boston v. Bellotti · 435 U.S. 765 (1978)
• United States Civil Service Commission v. National Ass'n of Letter Carriers · 413 U.S. 548 (1973)
• Watts v. United States · 394 U.S. 705 (1969)
• Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc. · 472 U.S. 749 (1985)
• Harisiades v. Shaughnessy · 342 U.S. 580 (1952)
• Pennekamp v. Florida · 328 U.S. 331 (1946)
• Bond v. Floyd · 385 U.S. 116 (1966)
• Frohwerk v. United States · 249 U.S. 204 (1919)
• Snepp v. United States · 444 U.S. 507 (1980)

Cited by

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

• United States v. National Treasury Employees Union · 513 U.S. 454 (1995)
• Wilkie v. Robbins · 551 U.S. 537 (2007)
• Garcetti v. Ceballos · 547 U.S. 410 (2006)
• Rust v. Sullivan · 500 U.S. 173 (1991)
• Waters v. Churchill · 511 U.S. 661 (1994)
• Snyder v. Phelps · 562 U.S. 443 (2011)
• Board of Comm'rs, Wabaunsee Cty. v. Umbehr · 518 U.S. 668 (1996)
• Janus v. State, County, and Municipal Employees · 585 U.S. 878 (2018)
• City of San Diego v. Roe · 543 U.S. 77 (2004)
• Payne v. Tennessee · 501 U.S. 808 (1991)
• City of Lakewood v. Plain Dealer Publishing Co. · 486 U.S. 750 (1988)
• Mahanoy Area School Dist. v. B. L. · 594 U.S. 180 (2021)

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).