United States et al. v. Marcus S. Smith et al.

Decided March 20, 1991. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 89-1646 · 499 U.S. 160 (1991) · Cited 361 times

Holding

The Act immunizes Government employees from suit even when an FTCA exception precludes recovery against the Government.

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.

• Westfall v. Erwin · 484 U.S. 292 (1988)
• Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · 403 U.S. 388 (1971)
• Office of Personnel Management v. Richmond · 496 U.S. 414 (1990)
• United States v. Morton · 467 U.S. 822 (1984)
• Andrus v. Glover Construction Co. · 446 U.S. 608 (1980)
• Randall v. Loftsgaarden · 478 U.S. 647 (1986)

Cited by

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

• Simmons v. Himmelreich · 578 U.S. 621 (2016)
• Levin v. United States · 568 U.S. 503 (2013)
• Hui v. Castaneda · 559 U.S. 799 (2010)
• Federal Deposit Insurance v. Meyer · 510 U.S. 471 (1994)
• Gutierrez De Martinez v. Lamagno · 515 U.S. 417 (1995)
• Melkonyan v. Sullivan · 501 U.S. 89 (1991)
• Johnson v. Home State Bank · 501 U.S. 78 (1991)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1991). 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).