Thomas Freytag, et al. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Decided June 27, 1991. Harry Andrew Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 90-762 · 501 U.S. 868 (1991) · Cited 1,491 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“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.

• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Williams v. United States · 289 U.S. 553 (1933)
• Glidden Co. v. Zdanok · 370 U.S. 530 (1962)
• United States v. Germaine · 99 U.S. 508 (1879)
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Schor · 478 U.S. 833 (1986)
• Northern Pipeline Construction Co. v. Marathon Pipe Line Co. · 458 U.S. 50 (1982)
• Gomez v. United States · 490 U.S. 858 (1989)
• Johnson v. Zerbst · 304 U.S. 458 (1938)
• Mistretta v. United States · 488 U.S. 361 (1989)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Chadha · 462 U.S. 919 (1983)
• Morrison v. Olson · 487 U.S. 654 (1988)
• Bowsher v. Synar · 478 U.S. 714 (1986)
• Humphrey's v. United States · 295 U.S. 602 (1935)
• Hallstrom v. Tillamook County · 493 U.S. 20 (1989)
• Levine v. United States · 362 U.S. 610 (1960)
• Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Assn. of United States, Inc. v. State Farm Mut. Automobile Ins. Co. · 463 U.S. 29 (1983)
• Wainwright v. Sykes · 433 U.S. 72 (1977)
• Insurance Corp. of Ireland v. Compagnie Des Bauxites De Guinee · 456 U.S. 694 (1982)
• United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. · 310 U.S. 150 (1940)
• Yakus v. United States · 321 U.S. 414 (1944)
• Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer · 343 U.S. 579 (1952)
• Hormel v. Helvering · 312 U.S. 552 (1941)
• United States v. L. A. Tucker Truck Lines, Inc. · 344 U.S. 33 (1952)
• American Fire & Casualty Co. v. Finn · 341 U.S. 6 (1951)
• Mansfield, Coldwater & Lake Michigan Railway Co. v. Swan · 111 U.S. 379 (1884)
• Patton v. United States · 281 U.S. 276 (1930)
• Grosso v. United States · 390 U.S. 62 (1968)
• Old Colony Trust Co. v. Commissioner · 279 U.S. 716 (1929)
• Go-Bart Importing Co. v. United States · 282 U.S. 344 (1931)
• Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare v. Davenport · 495 U.S. 552 (1990)

Cited by

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

• Lucia v. SEC · 585 U.S. 237 (2018)
• Weiss v. United States · 510 U.S. 163 (1994)
• Financial Oversight and Management Bd. for Puerto Rico v. Aurelius Investment, LLC · 590 U.S. 448 (2020)
• Edmond v. United States · 520 U.S. 651 (1997)
• United States v. Arthrex, Inc. · 594 U.S. 1 (2021)
• Davila v. Davis · 582 U.S. 521 (2017)
• Federal Maritime Commission v. South Carolina State Ports Authority · 535 U.S. 743 (2002)
• Nat'l Labor Relations Bd. v. SW Gen., Inc. · 580 U.S. 288 (2017)
• Zivotofsky v. Kerry · 576 U.S. 1 (2015)
• Matal v. Tam · 582 U.S. 218 (2017)
• Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. · 556 U.S. 502 (2009)
• Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene's Energy Group, LLC · 584 U.S. 325 (2018)
• Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, Inc. · 606 U.S. 748 (2025)
• United States v. Olano · 507 U.S. 725 (1993)
• Plaut v. Spendthrift Farm, Inc. · 514 U.S. 211 (1995)
• Clinton v. City of New York · 524 U.S. 417 (1998)
• National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley · 524 U.S. 569 (1998)
• Ryder v. United States · 515 U.S. 177 (1995)
• Zivotofsky Ex Rel. Zivotofsky v. Clinton · 566 U.S. 189 (2012)
• Dupree v. Younger · 598 U.S. 729 (2023)
• Marinello v. United States · 584 U.S. 1 (2018)
• Ortiz v. United States · 585 U.S. 427 (2018)
• Trump v. United States · 603 U.S. 593 (2024)
• FCC v. Consumers' Research · 606 U.S. 656 (2025)
• Commissioner v. Zuch · 605 U.S. 422 (2025)

Official text

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

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). 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).