Richard E. Lyng, Secretary of Agriculture, et al. v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association et al.

Decided April 19, 1988. Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 86-1013 · 485 U.S. 439 (1988) · Cited 953 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 5–3.

“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.

• Bowen v. Roy · 476 U.S. 693 (1986)
• Wisconsin v. Yoder · 406 U.S. 205 (1972)
• Sherbert v. Verner · 374 U.S. 398 (1963)
• Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n of Fla. · 480 U.S. 136 (1987)
• Thomas v. Review Board of the Indiana Employment Security Division · 450 U.S. 707 (1981)
• Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority · 297 U.S. 288 (1936)
• Prince v. Massachusetts · 321 U.S. 158 (1944)
• Gulf Oil Co. v. Bernard · 452 U.S. 89 (1981)
• United States v. Ceccolini · 435 U.S. 268 (1978)
• Jean v. Nelson · 472 U.S. 846 (1985)
• Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation v. Wold Engineering, P. C. · 467 U.S. 138 (1984)

Cited by

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

• Mahmoud v. Taylor · 606 U.S. 522 (2025)
• Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer · 582 U.S. 449 (2017)
• Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue · 591 U.S. 464 (2020)
• Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith · 494 U.S. 872 (1990)
• Fulton v. Philadelphia · 593 U.S. 522 (2021)
• Carson v. Makin · 596 U.S. 767 (2022)
• Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah · 508 U.S. 520 (1993)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. · 556 U.S. 502 (2009)
• Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc. · 501 U.S. 560 (1991)
• Locke v. Davey · 540 U.S. 712 (2004)
• Agency for Int'l Development v. Alliance for Open Society · 591 U.S. 430 (2020)

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).