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

Decided May 3, 1971. Harry Andrew Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 108 · 402 U.S. 389 (1971) · Cited 22,864 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 6–3.

“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.

• Goldberg v. Kelly · 397 U.S. 254 (1970)
• Consolidated Edison Co. v. National Labor Relations Board · 305 U.S. 197 (1938)
• Universal Camera Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board · 340 U.S. 474 (1951)
• Consolo v. Federal Maritime Commission · 383 U.S. 607 (1966)
• In Re Murchison. · 349 U.S. 133 (1955)
• Flemming v. Nestor · 363 U.S. 603 (1960)
• Offutt v. United States · 348 U.S. 11 (1954)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Columbian Enameling & Stamping Co. · 306 U.S. 292 (1939)
• Hannah v. Larche · 363 U.S. 420 (1960)

Cited by

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

• Biestek v. Berryhill · 587 U.S. 97 (2019)
• Mathews v. Eldridge · 424 U.S. 319 (1976)
• Sims v. Apfel · 530 U.S. 103 (2000)
• Heckler v. Campbell · 461 U.S. 458 (1983)
• Carr v. Saul · 593 U.S. 83 (2021)
• Greenholtz v. Inmates of the Nebraska Penal & Correctional Complex · 442 U.S. 1 (1979)
• Withrow v. Larkin · 421 U.S. 35 (1975)
• Schweiker v. Chilicky · 487 U.S. 412 (1988)
• Sullivan v. Hudson · 490 U.S. 877 (1989)
• Ardestani v. Immigration & Naturalization Service · 502 U.S. 129 (1991)
• Schweiker v. McClure · 456 U.S. 188 (1982)
• Industrial Union Dept., AFL-CIO v. American Petroleum Institute · 448 U.S. 607 (1980)
• Atkins v. Parker · 472 U.S. 115 (1985)
• Heckler v. Day · 467 U.S. 104 (1984)
• SEC v. Jarkesy · 603 U.S. 109 (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).