United States Catholic Conference et al. v. Abortion Rights Mobilization, Inc., et al.

Decided June 20, 1988. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 87-416 · 487 U.S. 72 (1988) · Cited 231 times

Holding

A nonparty witness may defend against a civil contempt adjudication by challenging the district court's subject-matter jurisdiction, and is not limited to the contention that the court lacked even colorable jurisdiction to hear the suit.

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.

• United States v. United Mine Workers of America · 330 U.S. 258 (1947)
• United States v. Morton Salt Co. · 338 U.S. 632 (1950)
• Catlin v. United States · 324 U.S. 229 (1945)
• Roadway Express, Inc. v. Piper · 447 U.S. 752 (1980)
• Bender v. Williamsport Area School District · 475 U.S. 534 (1986)
• Cobbledick v. United States · 309 U.S. 323 (1940)
• United States v. Ryan · 402 U.S. 530 (1971)
• Karcher v. May · 484 U.S. 72 (1987)
• Yates v. United States · 355 U.S. 66 (1957)

Cited by

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

• Devlin v. Scardelletti · 536 U.S. 1 (2002)
• Cunningham v. Hamilton County · 527 U.S. 198 (1999)
• Willy v. Coastal Corp. · 503 U.S. 131 (1992)

Official text

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

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Anthony McLeod Kennedy’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1988). 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).