Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese for the United States of America and Canada et al. v. Milivojevich et al.

Decided June 21, 1976. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 75-292 · 426 U.S. 696 (1976) · Cited 1,118 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 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.

• Watson v. Jones · 80 U.S. 679 (1872)
• Kedroff v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church in North America · 344 U.S. 94 (1952)
• Gonzalez v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila · 280 U.S. 1 (1929)
• Presbyterian Church in US v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church · 393 U.S. 440 (1969)
• Kreshik v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral of Russian Orthodox Church of North America · 363 U.S. 190 (1960)
• Erie Railroad v. Tompkins · 304 U.S. 64 (1938)

Cited by

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

• Jones v. Wolf · 443 U.S. 595 (1979)
• Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission · 565 U.S. 171 (2012)
• Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Comm'n. · 605 U.S. 238 (2025)
• Board of Ed. of Kiryas Joel Village School Dist. v. Grumet · 512 U.S. 687 (1994)
• Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith · 494 U.S. 872 (1990)
• Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. Amos · 483 U.S. 327 (1987)
• Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock · 489 U.S. 1 (1989)
• McDaniel v. Paty · 435 U.S. 618 (1978)

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).