State of Arizona v. State of California, et al.

Decided June 19, 2000. Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 8 ORIG · 530 U.S. 392 (2000) · Cited 633 times

Holding

The District’s policy permitting student-led, student-initiated prayer at football games violates the Establishment Clause.

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 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.

• Arizona v. California · 460 U.S. 605 (1983)
• Arizona v. California · 373 U.S. 546 (1963)
• United States v. International Building Co. · 345 U.S. 502 (1953)
• United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians · 448 U.S. 371 (1980)
• Nevada v. United States · 463 U.S. 110 (1983)
• Cromwell v. County of Sac · 94 U.S. 351 (1877)
• Winters v. United States · 207 U.S. 564 (1908)
• United States v. New Mexico · 438 U.S. 696 (1978)

Cited by

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

• Herrera v. Wyoming · 587 U.S. 329 (2019)
• Archer v. Warner · 538 U.S. 314 (2003)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2000). 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).