Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States, et al. v. United States District Court for the District of Columbia et al.

Decided June 24, 2004. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 03-475 · 542 U.S. 367 (2004) · Cited 1,878 times

Holding

Because “reasonable jurists would find the district court’s assessment of the constitutional claims debatable or wrong,” Slack v.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 7–2.

“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.

• United States v. Nixon · 418 U.S. 683 (1974)
• Kerr v. United States Dist. Court for Northern Dist. of Cal. · 426 U.S. 394 (1976)
• Clinton v. Jones · 520 U.S. 681 (1997)
• Will v. United States · 389 U.S. 90 (1967)
• Nixon v. Fitzgerald · 457 U.S. 731 (1982)
• Ex Parte Fahey · 332 U.S. 258 (1947)
• Ex Parte Republic of Peru · 318 U.S. 578 (1943)
• Heckler v. Ringer · 466 U.S. 602 (1984)
• Schlagenhauf v. Holder · 379 U.S. 104 (1964)
• Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. v. Mayacamas Corp. · 485 U.S. 271 (1988)
• Roche v. Evaporated Milk Assn. · 319 U.S. 21 (1943)
• Public Citizen v. United States Department of Justice · 491 U.S. 440 (1989)
• Bankers Life & Casualty Co. v. Holland · 346 U.S. 379 (1953)
• Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp. · 337 U.S. 541 (1949)
• Berger v. United States · 295 U.S. 78 (1935)
• United States v. Reynolds · 345 U.S. 1 (1953)
• Loving v. United States · 517 U.S. 748 (1996)
• Stafford v. Briggs · 444 U.S. 527 (1980)
• Maryland v. Soper, Judge · 270 U.S. 9 (1926)
• Chandler v. Judicial Council of the Tenth Circuit · 398 U.S. 74 (1970)

Cited by

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

• Ziglar v. Abbasi · 582 U.S. 120 (2017)
• Trump v. Vance · 591 U.S. 786 (2020)
• Atlantic Marine Constr. Co. v. United States Dist. Court for Western Dist. of Tex. · 571 U.S. 49 (2013)
• Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. · 551 U.S. 587 (2007)
• Mohawk Industries, Inc. v. Carpenter · 558 U.S. 100 (2009)
• Hollingsworth v. Perry · 558 U.S. 183 (2010)
• United States v. Jicarilla Apache Nation · 564 U.S. 162 (2011)
• Trump v. United States · 603 U.S. 593 (2024)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2004). 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).