The District of Columbia and Sharon Pratt Kelly, Mayor v. the Greater Washington Board of Trade

Decided December 14, 1992. Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 91-1326 · 506 U.S. 125 (1992) · Cited 443 times

Holding

Section 2(c)(2) is pre-empted by ERISA.

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 8–1.

“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.

• Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc. · 463 U.S. 85 (1983)
• Metropolitan Life Insurance v. Massachusetts · 471 U.S. 724 (1985)
• MacKey v. Lanier Collection Agency & Service, Inc. · 486 U.S. 825 (1988)
• Ingersoll-Rand Co. v. McClendon · 498 U.S. 133 (1990)
• Fort Halifax Packing Co. v. Coyne · 482 U.S. 1 (1987)
• Pilot Life Insurance v. Dedeaux · 481 U.S. 41 (1987)
• Rice v. Santa Fe Elevator Corp. · 331 U.S. 218 (1947)
• FMC Corp. v. Holliday · 498 U.S. 52 (1990)
• Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc. · 505 U.S. 504 (1992)
• Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc. · 504 U.S. 374 (1992)
• Fidelity Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. De La Cuesta · 458 U.S. 141 (1982)
• Pacific Gas & Electric Co. v. State Energy Resources Conservation & Development Commission · 461 U.S. 190 (1983)
• Alessi v. Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc. · 451 U.S. 504 (1981)
• Malone v. White Motor Corp. · 435 U.S. 497 (1978)
• Retail Clerks International Ass'n, Local 1625 v. Schermerhorn · 375 U.S. 96 (1963)

Cited by

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

• California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement v. Dillingham Construction, N. A. · 519 U.S. 316 (1997)
• New York State Conference of Blue Cross & Blue Shield Plans v. Travelers Insurance · 514 U.S. 645 (1995)
• De Buono v. NYSA-ILA Medical & Clinical Services Fund Ex Rel. Bowers · 520 U.S. 806 (1997)
• Maracich v. Spears · 570 U.S. 48 (2013)
• Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Assn. · 592 U.S. 80 (2020)
• Smith v. United States · 508 U.S. 223 (1993)

Official text

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

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Clarence Thomas’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1992). 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).