Togo D. West, Jr., Secretary of Veterans Affairs v. Michael Gibson

Decided June 14, 1999. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 98-238 · 527 U.S. 212 (1999) · Cited 146 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 5–4.

“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.

• Lane v. Pena · 518 U.S. 187 (1996)
• Department of the Army v. Blue Fox, Inc. · 525 U.S. 255 (1999)
• United States v. Nordic Village, Inc. · 503 U.S. 30 (1992)
• Lehman v. Nakshian · 453 U.S. 156 (1981)
• New York Gaslight Club, Inc. v. Carey · 447 U.S. 54 (1980)
• Brown v. General Services Administration · 425 U.S. 820 (1976)
• Phelps Dodge Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board · 313 U.S. 177 (1941)
• United States v. Burke · 504 U.S. 229 (1992)
• Soriano v. United States · 352 U.S. 270 (1957)
• Great Northern Life Insurance Co. v. Read · 322 U.S. 47 (1944)
• United States v. Southwestern Cable Co. · 392 U.S. 157 (1968)
• McElrath v. United States · 102 U.S. 426 (1880)
• Fortnightly Corp. v. United Artists Television, Inc. · 392 U.S. 390 (1968)
• Browder v. United States · 312 U.S. 335 (1941)
• Roberts v. Galen of Virginia, Inc. · 525 U.S. 249 (1999)

Cited by

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

• BP America Production Co. Ex Rel. Amoco Production Co. v. Burton · 549 U.S. 84 (2006)
• Jam v. International Finance Corp. · 586 U.S. 199 (2019)
• New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira · 586 U.S. 105 (2019)
• Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White · 548 U.S. 53 (2006)
• Lilly v. Virginia · 527 U.S. 116 (1999)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Stephen Gerald Breyer’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).