Thomas v. Arn, Superintendent, Ohio Reformatory for Women

Decided December 4, 1985. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 84-5630 · 474 U.S. 140 (1985) · Cited 28,671 times

Holding

A court of appeals may adopt a rule conditioning appeal, when taken from a district court judgment that adopts a magistrate's recommendation, upon the filing of objections with the district court identifying those issues on which further review is desired.

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.

• United States v. Raddatz · 447 U.S. 667 (1980)
• Northern Pipeline Construction Co. v. Marathon Pipe Line Co. · 458 U.S. 50 (1982)
• Link v. Wabash Railroad · 370 U.S. 626 (1962)
• Barker v. Wingo · 407 U.S. 514 (1972)
• Mathews v. Weber · 423 U.S. 261 (1976)
• Cuyler v. Sullivan · 446 U.S. 335 (1980)
• Engle v. Isaac · 456 U.S. 107 (1982)
• Armstrong v. Manzo · 380 U.S. 545 (1965)
• Logan v. Zimmerman Brush Co. · 455 U.S. 422 (1982)
• Cupp v. Naughten · 414 U.S. 141 (1973)
• County Court of Ulster Cty. v. Allen · 442 U.S. 140 (1979)
• Crowell v. Benson · 285 U.S. 22 (1932)
• United States v. Payner · 447 U.S. 727 (1980)
• On Lee v. United States · 343 U.S. 747 (1952)
• Raley v. Ohio · 360 U.S. 423 (1959)
• Wingo v. Wedding · 418 U.S. 461 (1974)

Cited by

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

• Ortega-Rodriguez v. United States · 507 U.S. 234 (1993)
• United States v. Tsarnaev · 595 U.S. 302 (2022)
• Intel Corp. v. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. · 542 U.S. 241 (2004)
• United States v. Olano · 507 U.S. 725 (1993)
• Bank of Nova Scotia v. United States · 487 U.S. 250 (1988)
• Maine v. Taylor · 477 U.S. 131 (1986)
• Cardinal Chemical Co. v. Morton International, Inc. · 508 U.S. 83 (1993)
• Degen v. United States · 517 U.S. 820 (1996)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1985). 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).