Thomas v. Review Board of the Indiana Employment Security Division et al.

Decided April 6, 1981. Warren Earl Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 79-952 · 450 U.S. 707 (1981) · Cited 1,701 times

Holding

The State's denial of unemployment compensation benefits to petitioner violated his First Amendment right to free exercise of religion under Sherbert v.

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.

• Sherbert v. Verner · 374 U.S. 398 (1963)
• Committee for Public Education & Religious Liberty v. Nyquist · 413 U.S. 756 (1973)
• Wisconsin v. Yoder · 406 U.S. 205 (1972)
• Lemon v. Kurtzman · 403 U.S. 602 (1971)
• Everson v. Board of Ed. of Ewing · 330 U.S. 1 (1947)
• Walz v. Tax Comm'n of City of New York · 397 U.S. 664 (1970)
• Braunfeld v. Brown · 366 U.S. 599 (1961)
• Engel v. Vitale · 370 U.S. 421 (1962)
• Illinois Ex Rel. McCollum v. Board of Ed. of School Dist. No. 71, Champaign Cty. · 333 U.S. 203 (1948)
• Barron Ex Rel. Tiernan v. Mayor of Baltimore · 32 U.S. 243 (1833)
• Torcaso v. Watkins · 367 U.S. 488 (1961)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• Stromberg v. California · 283 U.S. 359 (1931)
• United States v. Ballard · 322 U.S. 78 (1944)
• Wolman v. Walter · 433 U.S. 229 (1977)

Cited by

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

• Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n of Fla. · 480 U.S. 136 (1987)
• Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith · 494 U.S. 872 (1990)
• Bowen v. Roy · 476 U.S. 693 (1986)
• Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah · 508 U.S. 520 (1993)
• Frazee v. Illinois Department of Employment Security · 489 U.S. 829 (1989)
• United States v. Lee · 455 U.S. 252 (1982)
• Goldman v. Weinberger · 475 U.S. 503 (1986)
• Espinoza v. Montana Dept. of Revenue · 591 U.S. 464 (2020)
• Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Comm'n · 584 U.S. 617 (2018)
• Fulton v. Philadelphia · 593 U.S. 522 (2021)
• Hernandez v. Commissioner · 490 U.S. 680 (1989)
• Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer · 582 U.S. 449 (2017)
• Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Assn. · 485 U.S. 439 (1988)
• Wallace v. Jaffree · 472 U.S. 38 (1985)
• Edwards v. Aguillard · 482 U.S. 578 (1987)
• Bob Jones University v. United States · 461 U.S. 574 (1983)
• Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock · 489 U.S. 1 (1989)
• City of Boerne v. Flores · 521 U.S. 507 (1997)
• Atascadero State Hospital v. Scanlon · 473 U.S. 234 (1985)
• Widmar v. Vincent · 454 U.S. 263 (1981)
• Lee v. Weisman · 505 U.S. 577 (1992)
• Marsh v. Chambers · 463 U.S. 783 (1983)
• Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation v. Secretary of Labor · 471 U.S. 290 (1985)
• Boy Scouts of America v. Dale · 530 U.S. 640 (2000)
• Locke v. Davey · 540 U.S. 712 (2004)
• Jimmy Swaggart Ministries v. Board of Equalization of California · 493 U.S. 378 (1990)
• Carson v. Makin · 596 U.S. 767 (2022)
• Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services · 605 U.S. 303 (2025)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Warren Earl Burger’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1981). 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).