Simon, Secretary of the Treasury, et al. v. Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights Organization et al.

Decided June 1, 1976. Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 74-1124 · 426 U.S. 26 (1976) · Cited 3,605 times

Holding

The District Court should have granted petitioners' motion to dismiss because respondents failed to establish their standing to bring this suit.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 8–0.

“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.

• United States v. Students Challenging Regulatory Agency Procedures (SCRAP) · 412 U.S. 669 (1973)
• Warth v. Seldin · 422 U.S. 490 (1975)
• Sierra Club v. Morton · 405 U.S. 727 (1972)
• Barlow v. Collins · 397 U.S. 159 (1970)
• Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc. v. Camp · 397 U.S. 150 (1970)
• Linda R. S. v. Richard D. · 410 U.S. 614 (1973)
• United States v. Richardson · 418 U.S. 166 (1974)
• Baker v. Carr · 369 U.S. 186 (1962)
• Flast v. Cohen · 392 U.S. 83 (1968)
• Louisiana v. McAdoo · 234 U.S. 627 (1914)
• Conley v. Gibson · 355 U.S. 41 (1957)
• Hospital Building Co. v. Trustees of Rex Hospital · 425 U.S. 738 (1976)
• Golden v. Zwickler · 394 U.S. 103 (1969)
• Poe v. Ullman · 367 U.S. 497 (1961)
• Trafficante v. Metropolitan Life Insurance · 409 U.S. 205 (1972)
• Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner · 387 U.S. 136 (1967)
• Aetna Life Insurance v. Haworth · 300 U.S. 227 (1937)
• Maryland Casualty Co. v. Pacific Coal & Oil Co. · 312 U.S. 270 (1941)
• Doe v. Bolton · 410 U.S. 179 (1973)
• Epperson v. Arkansas · 393 U.S. 97 (1968)
• Dunlop v. Bachowski · 421 U.S. 560 (1975)
• Investment Company Institute v. Camp · 401 U.S. 617 (1971)
• Gardner v. Toilet Goods Assn., Inc. · 387 U.S. 167 (1967)
• Toilet Goods Ass'n v. Gardner · 387 U.S. 158 (1967)
• Hardin v. Kentucky Utilities Co. · 390 U.S. 1 (1968)
• Arnold Tours, Inc. v. Camp · 400 U.S. 45 (1970)

Cited by

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

• Allen v. Wright · 468 U.S. 737 (1984)
• Clinton v. City of New York · 524 U.S. 417 (1998)
• Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Environment · 523 U.S. 83 (1998)
• Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc. · 454 U.S. 464 (1982)
• Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, Inc. · 438 U.S. 59 (1978)
• Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife · 504 U.S. 555 (1992)
• Gladstone, Realtors v. Village of Bellwood · 441 U.S. 91 (1979)
• Town of Chester v. Laroe Estates, Inc. · 581 U.S. 433 (2017)
• DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. Cuno · 547 U.S. 332 (2006)
• Diamond v. Charles · 476 U.S. 54 (1986)
• Larson v. Valente · 456 U.S. 228 (1982)
• Orr v. Orr · 440 U.S. 268 (1979)
• Heckler v. Mathews · 465 U.S. 728 (1984)
• Wyoming v. Oklahoma · 502 U.S. 437 (1992)
• Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly · 550 U.S. 544 (2007)
• Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins · 578 U.S. 330 (2016)
• City of Los Angeles v. Lyons · 461 U.S. 95 (1983)
• Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. · 429 U.S. 252 (1977)
• Singleton v. Wulff · 428 U.S. 106 (1976)
• TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez · 594 U.S. 413 (2021)
• Raines v. Byrd · 521 U.S. 811 (1997)
• Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez · 577 U.S. 153 (2016)
• Sprint Communications Co. v. APCC Services, Inc. · 554 U.S. 269 (2008)
• Renne v. Geary · 501 U.S. 312 (1991)
• Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. · 551 U.S. 587 (2007)
• Murthy v. Missouri · 603 U.S. 43 (2024)
• Frank v. Gaos · 586 U.S. 485 (2019)
• Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue · 591 U.S. 464 (2020)
• Hunt v. Washington State Apple Advertising Commission · 432 U.S. 333 (1977)
• Whitmore Ex Rel. Simmons v. Arkansas · 495 U.S. 149 (1990)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Lewis Franklin Powell Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1976). 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).