Union Pacific Railroad Company v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen General Committee of Adjustment, Central Region

Decided December 8, 2009. Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 08-604 · 558 U.S. 67 (2009) · Cited 364 times

Holding

Disclosure orders adverse to the attorney-client privilege do not qualify for immediate appeal under the collateral order doctrine.

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 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.

• Union Pacific Railroad v. Price · 360 U.S. 601 (1959)
• Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp. · 546 U.S. 500 (2006)
• Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc. · 455 U.S. 385 (1982)
• Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Environment · 523 U.S. 83 (1998)
• Kontrick v. Ryan · 540 U.S. 443 (2004)
• Union Pacific Railroad v. Sheehan · 439 U.S. 89 (1978)
• Bowles v. Russell · 551 U.S. 205 (2007)
• United States v. Cotton · 535 U.S. 625 (2002)
• Cohens v. Virginia · 19 U.S. 264 (1821)
• Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Co. v. Burley · 325 U.S. 711 (1945)
• Marshall v. Marshall · 547 U.S. 293 (2006)
• John R. Sand & Gravel Co. v. United States · 552 U.S. 130 (2008)
• Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. Chicago River & Indiana Railroad · 353 U.S. 30 (1957)
• Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen v. Jacksonville Terminal Co. · 394 U.S. 369 (1969)
• Slocum v. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad · 339 U.S. 239 (1950)
• Blum v. Bacon · 457 U.S. 132 (1982)

Cited by

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

• Henderson v. Shinseki · 562 U.S. 428 (2011)
• City of Arlington v. Fed. Commc'ns Comm'n · 569 U.S. 290 (2013)
• Fort Bend County v. Davis · 587 U.S. 541 (2019)
• United States v. Kwai Fun Wong · 575 U.S. 402 (2015)
• Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd. · 561 U.S. 247 (2010)
• Santos-Zacaria v. Garland · 598 U.S. 411 (2023)
• Riley v. Bondi · 606 U.S. 259 (2025)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2009). 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).