Sullivan, Secretary of Health and Human Services v. Zebley et al.

Decided February 20, 1990. Harry Andrew Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 88-1377 · 493 U.S. 521 (1990) · Cited 2,580 times

Holding

The child-disability regulations are inconsistent with the statutory standard of "comparable severity."

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 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.

• Bowen v. Yuckert · 482 U.S. 137 (1987)
• Heckler v. Campbell · 461 U.S. 458 (1983)
• Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · 467 U.S. 837 (1984)
• Bowen v. City of New York · 476 U.S. 467 (1986)
• Heckler v. Edwards · 465 U.S. 870 (1984)

Cited by

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

• United States v. Mead Corp. · 533 U.S. 218 (2001)
• Sims v. Apfel · 530 U.S. 103 (2000)
• Sullivan v. Finkelstein · 496 U.S. 617 (1990)
• Washington State Department of Social & Health Services v. Guardianship Estate of Keffeler · 537 U.S. 371 (2003)
• Advocate Christ Medical Center v. Kennedy · 605 U.S. 1 (2025)

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).