Richardson, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare v. Belcher

Decided November 22, 1971. Potter Stewart delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 70-53 · 404 U.S. 78 (1971) · Cited 630 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 4–3.

“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.

• Dandridge v. Williams · 397 U.S. 471 (1970)
• Flemming v. Nestor · 363 U.S. 603 (1960)
• Goldberg v. Kelly · 397 U.S. 254 (1970)
• Bolling v. Sharpe · 347 U.S. 497 (1954)
• Williams v. Rhodes · 393 U.S. 23 (1968)

Cited by

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

• Weinberger v. Salfi · 422 U.S. 749 (1975)
• Mathews v. Eldridge · 424 U.S. 319 (1976)
• San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez · 411 U.S. 1 (1973)
• United States v. Kras · 409 U.S. 434 (1973)
• Craig v. Boren · 429 U.S. 190 (1976)
• Usery v. Turner Elkhorn Mining Co. · 428 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Johnson v. Robison · 415 U.S. 361 (1974)
• Schweiker v. Wilson · 450 U.S. 221 (1981)
• Califano v. Goldfarb · 430 U.S. 199 (1977)
• Atkins v. Parker · 472 U.S. 115 (1985)
• Robinson v. Shell Oil Co. · 519 U.S. 337 (1997)
• Youngberg v. Romeo Ex Rel. Romeo · 457 U.S. 307 (1982)
• Branzburg v. Hayes · 408 U.S. 665 (1972)
• Massachusetts Board of Retirement v. Murgia · 427 U.S. 307 (1976)
• Frontiero v. Richardson · 411 U.S. 677 (1973)
• United States Railroad Retirement Board v. Fritz · 449 U.S. 166 (1980)
• Alessi v. Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc. · 451 U.S. 504 (1981)
• United States Department of Agriculture v. Moreno · 413 U.S. 528 (1973)
• Hisquierdo v. Hisquierdo · 439 U.S. 572 (1979)
• Fullilove v. Klutznick · 448 U.S. 448 (1980)
• Mathews v. Lucas · 427 U.S. 495 (1976)
• Califano v. Jobst · 434 U.S. 47 (1977)
• Ortwein v. Schwab · 410 U.S. 656 (1973)
• Marshall v. United States · 414 U.S. 417 (1974)
• Califano v. Aznavorian · 439 U.S. 170 (1978)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Potter Stewart’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

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).