United States v. Kirk Fordice, Governor of Mississippi, et al.

Decided June 26, 1992. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 90-1205 · 505 U.S. 717 (1992) · Cited 171 times

Holding

The judgment is reversed.

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.

• Green v. County School Board of New Kent County · 391 U.S. 430 (1968)
• Bazemore v. Friday · 478 U.S. 385 (1986)
• Brown v. Board of Education · 349 U.S. 294 (1955)
• Gilmore v. City of Montgomery · 417 U.S. 556 (1974)
• Board of Ed. of Oklahoma City Public Schools v. Dowell · 498 U.S. 237 (1991)
• Brown v. Board of Education · 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
• Freeman v. Pitts · 503 U.S. 467 (1992)
• Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education · 402 U.S. 1 (1971)
• Plessy v. Ferguson · 163 U.S. 537 (1896)
• Guardians Assn. v. Civil Serv. Comm'n of New York City · 463 U.S. 582 (1983)
• Dayton Board of Education v. Brinkman · 443 U.S. 526 (1979)
• Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. · 429 U.S. 252 (1977)
• Washington v. Davis · 426 U.S. 229 (1976)
• Regents of the University of California v. Bakke · 438 U.S. 265 (1978)
• City of Richmond v. J. A. Croson Co. · 488 U.S. 469 (1989)
• Keyes v. School Dist. No. 1, Denver · 413 U.S. 189 (1973)
• Sweatt v. Painter · 339 U.S. 629 (1950)
• McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education · 339 U.S. 637 (1950)
• Hazelwood School District v. United States · 433 U.S. 299 (1977)
• Cooper v. Aaron · 358 U.S. 1 (1958)
• Milliken v. Bradley · 418 U.S. 717 (1974)
• Lane v. Wilson · 307 U.S. 268 (1939)
• Pasadena City Board of Education v. Spangler · 427 U.S. 424 (1976)
• Missouri Ex Rel. Gaines v. Canada · 305 U.S. 337 (1938)
• Goss v. Board of Ed. of Knoxville · 373 U.S. 683 (1963)

Cited by

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

• Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 · 551 U.S. 701 (2007)
• Missouri v. Jenkins · 515 U.S. 70 (1995)
• Alexander v. Sandoval · 532 U.S. 275 (2001)
• Grutter v. Bollinger · 539 U.S. 306 (2003)
• Trump v. Hawaii · 585 U.S. 667 (2018)
• Gratz v. Bollinger · 539 U.S. 244 (2003)
• Ramos v. Louisiana · 590 U.S. 83 (2020)
• Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College · 600 U.S. 181 (2023)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Byron Raymond White’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1992). 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).