Spallone v. United States et al.

Decided January 10, 1990. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 88-854 · 493 U.S. 265 (1990) · Cited 336 times

Holding

In the circumstances of this case, the portion of the District Court's July 26 order imposing contempt sanctions against petitioner individual councilmembers if they failed to vote in favor of the ordinance was an abuse of discretion under traditional equitable principles.

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 5–4.

“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.

• Tenney v. Brandhove · 341 U.S. 367 (1951)
• Milliken v. Bradley · 433 U.S. 267 (1977)
• Cooper v. Aaron · 358 U.S. 1 (1958)
• Supreme Court of Virginia v. Consumers Union of the United States, Inc. · 446 U.S. 719 (1980)
• Powell v. McCormack · 395 U.S. 486 (1969)
• Hutto v. Finney · 437 U.S. 678 (1978)
• Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education · 402 U.S. 1 (1971)
• Shillitani v. United States · 384 U.S. 364 (1966)
• Lake Country Estates, Inc. v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency · 440 U.S. 391 (1979)
• Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs. · 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
• Franks v. Bowman Transportation Co. · 424 U.S. 747 (1976)
• Fullilove v. Klutznick · 448 U.S. 448 (1980)
• Griffin v. School Bd. of Prince Edward Cty. · 377 U.S. 218 (1964)
• Local 28 of the Sheet Metal Workers' International Ass'n v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission · 478 U.S. 421 (1986)
• Whitcomb v. Chavis · 403 U.S. 124 (1971)
• Dombrowski v. Eastland · 387 U.S. 82 (1967)
• Palmore v. Sidoti · 466 U.S. 429 (1984)
• United States v. Paradise · 480 U.S. 149 (1987)
• Columbus Board of Education v. Penick · 443 U.S. 449 (1979)
• Palmer v. Thompson · 403 U.S. 217 (1971)
• Watson v. City of Memphis · 373 U.S. 526 (1963)
• In Re Michael · 326 U.S. 224 (1945)

Cited by

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

• Missouri v. Jenkins · 495 U.S. 33 (1990)
• Bogan v. Scott-Harris · 523 U.S. 44 (1998)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1990). 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).