United States v. Culbert

Decided March 28, 1978. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 77-142 · 435 U.S. 371 (1978) · Cited 218 times

Holding

The plain language and legislative history of the statute make clear that Congress did not intend to limit the statute's scope by reference to an undefined category of conduct termed "racketeering," but rather that Congress intended to reach all conduct within the express terms of the statute.

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 8–0.

“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.

• United States v. Enmons · 410 U.S. 396 (1973)
• Connally v. General Construction Co. · 269 U.S. 385 (1926)
• United States v. American Trucking Associations · 310 U.S. 534 (1940)
• Stirone v. United States · 361 U.S. 212 (1960)
• United States v. Bass · 404 U.S. 336 (1971)
• Rewis v. United States · 401 U.S. 808 (1971)
• Scarborough v. United States · 431 U.S. 563 (1977)
• Hynes v. Mayor and Council of Oradell · 425 U.S. 610 (1976)
• Train v. Colorado Public Interest Research Group, Inc. · 426 U.S. 1 (1976)
• United States v. Bramblett · 348 U.S. 503 (1955)

Cited by

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

• Scheidler v. National Organization for Women, Inc. · 537 U.S. 393 (2003)
• United States v. Davis · 588 U.S. 445 (2019)
• Williams v. United States · 458 U.S. 279 (1982)
• United States v. Naftalin · 441 U.S. 768 (1979)
• United States v. Turkette · 452 U.S. 576 (1981)
• United States v. Batchelder · 442 U.S. 114 (1979)
• United States v. Lopez · 514 U.S. 549 (1995)
• United States v. Gaudin · 515 U.S. 506 (1995)
• Perrin v. United States · 444 U.S. 37 (1979)
• Custis v. United States · 511 U.S. 485 (1994)
• Lewis v. United States · 445 U.S. 55 (1980)
• Dickerson v. New Banner Institute, Inc. · 460 U.S. 103 (1983)
• Stafford v. Briggs · 444 U.S. 527 (1980)
• Scheidler v. National Organization for Women, Inc. · 547 U.S. 9 (2006)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1978). 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).