Thornburg, Attorney General of North Carolina, et al. v. Gingles et al.

Decided June 30, 1986. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 83-1968 · 478 U.S. 30 (1986) · Cited 1,221 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.

• White v. Regester · 412 U.S. 755 (1973)
• Whitcomb v. Chavis · 403 U.S. 124 (1971)
• City of Mobile v. Bolden · 446 U.S. 55 (1980)
• Rogers v. Lodge · 458 U.S. 613 (1982)
• East Carroll Parish School Board v. Marshall · 424 U.S. 636 (1976)
• City of Rome v. United States · 446 U.S. 156 (1980)
• Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc. · 466 U.S. 485 (1984)
• Fortson v. Dorsey · 379 U.S. 433 (1965)
• Anderson v. City of Bessemer City · 470 U.S. 564 (1985)
• Pullman-Standard v. Swint · 456 U.S. 273 (1982)
• Inwood Laboratories, Inc. v. Ives Laboratories, Inc. · 456 U.S. 844 (1982)
• Garcia v. United States · 469 U.S. 70 (1984)
• Zuber v. Allen · 396 U.S. 168 (1969)
• Burns v. Richardson · 384 U.S. 73 (1966)
• United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburgh, Inc. v. Carey · 430 U.S. 144 (1977)

Cited by

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

• Bartlett v. Strickland · 556 U.S. 1 (2009)
• Holder v. Hall · 512 U.S. 874 (1994)
• League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry · 548 U.S. 399 (2006)
• Johnson v. De Grandy · 512 U.S. 997 (1994)
• Bush v. Vera · 517 U.S. 952 (1996)
• Cooper v. Harris · 581 U.S. 285 (2017)
• Georgia v. Ashcroft, Attorney General · 539 U.S. 461 (2003)
• Allen v. Milligan · 599 U.S. 1 (2023)
• Reno v. Bossier Parish School Board · 528 U.S. 320 (2000)
• Voinovich v. Quilter · 507 U.S. 146 (1993)
• Abrams v. Johnson · 521 U.S. 74 (1997)
• Growe v. Emison · 507 U.S. 25 (1993)
• Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee · 594 U.S. 647 (2021)
• Chisom v. Roemer · 501 U.S. 380 (1991)
• Exxon Co., USA v. Sofec, Inc. · 517 U.S. 830 (1996)
• Shaw v. Reno · 509 U.S. 630 (1993)
• Wisconsin Legislature v. Wisconsin Elections Commission · 595 U.S. 398 (2022)
• Abbott v. Perez · 585 U.S. 579 (2018)
• Reno v. Bossier Parish School Board · 520 U.S. 471 (1997)
• Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama · 575 U.S. 254 (2015)
• Miller v. Johnson · 515 U.S. 900 (1995)
• Vieth v. Jubelirer · 541 U.S. 267 (2004)
• Already, LLC v. Nike, Inc. · 568 U.S. 85 (2013)

Official text

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

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William Joseph Brennan Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

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).