Supreme Court of the United States / October Term 1984

School Committee of the Town of Burlington, Massachusetts, et al. v. Department of Education of Massachusetts et al.

Decided April 29, 1985. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 84-433 · 471 U.S. 359 (1985) · Cited 1,566 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 9–0.

Majority · 9

William Hubbs Rehnquist · delivered the opinion of the Court
Byron Raymond White
Harry Andrew Blackmun
John Paul Stevens
Lewis Franklin Powell Jr.
Sandra Day O'Connor
Thurgood Marshall
Warren Earl Burger
William Joseph Brennan Jr.

“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.

Board of Education of the Hendrick Hudson Central School District v. Rowley Ex Rel. Rowley · 458 U.S. 176 (1982)

Cited by

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

Forest Grove School District v. T. A. · 557 U.S. 230 (2009)
Florence County School District Four v. Carter Ex Rel. Carter · 510 U.S. 7 (1993)
Arlington Central School District Board of Education v. Murphy · 548 U.S. 291 (2006)
Fry v. Napoleon Community Schools · 580 U.S. 154 (2017)
Dellmuth v. Muth · 491 U.S. 223 (1989)
Honig v. Doe · 484 U.S. 305 (1988)
Bowen v. Massachusetts · 487 U.S. 879 (1988)
Schaffer Ex Rel. Schaffer v. Weast · 546 U.S. 49 (2005)
Luna Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools · 598 U.S. 142 (2023)
Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P. · 603 U.S. 204 (2024)

Official text

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

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William Hubbs Rehnquist’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).