United States v. Lee

Decided February 23, 1982. Warren Earl Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 80-767 · 455 U.S. 252 (1982) · Cited 834 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

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.

• Thomas v. Review Board of the Indiana Employment Security Division · 450 U.S. 707 (1981)
• Sherbert v. Verner · 374 U.S. 398 (1963)
• Wisconsin v. Yoder · 406 U.S. 205 (1972)
• Braunfeld v. Brown · 366 U.S. 599 (1961)
• Prince v. Massachusetts · 321 U.S. 158 (1944)
• Reynolds v. United States · 98 U.S. 145 (1879)
• Gillette v. United States · 401 U.S. 437 (1971)
• Harris v. McRae · 448 U.S. 297 (1980)
• Jacobson v. Massachusetts · 197 U.S. 11 (1905)
• Murdock v. Pennsylvania · 319 U.S. 105 (1943)
• Follett v. Town of McCormick · 321 U.S. 573 (1944)
• United States v. American Friends Service Committee · 419 U.S. 7 (1974)

Cited by

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

• Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Ore. v. Smith · 494 U.S. 872 (1990)
• Bowen v. Roy · 476 U.S. 693 (1986)
• Hernandez v. Commissioner · 490 U.S. 680 (1989)
• Johanns v. Livestock Marketing Assn. · 544 U.S. 550 (2005)
• Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock · 489 U.S. 1 (1989)
• Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah · 508 U.S. 520 (1993)
• Bob Jones University v. United States · 461 U.S. 574 (1983)
• Minneapolis Star & Tribune Co. v. Minnesota Commissioner of Revenue · 460 U.S. 575 (1983)
• Goldman v. Weinberger · 475 U.S. 503 (1986)
• City of Boerne v. Flores · 521 U.S. 507 (1997)
• Gonzales v. O Centro Espírita Beneficente União Do Vegetal · 546 U.S. 418 (2006)
• Tony and Susan Alamo Foundation v. Secretary of Labor · 471 U.S. 290 (1985)
• Fulton v. Philadelphia · 593 U.S. 522 (2021)
• Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council · 505 U.S. 1003 (1992)
• Larson v. Valente · 456 U.S. 228 (1982)
• Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. Amos · 483 U.S. 327 (1987)
• Walters v. National Assn. of Radiation Survivors · 473 U.S. 305 (1985)
• Hobbie v. Unemployment Appeals Comm'n of Fla. · 480 U.S. 136 (1987)
• Keller v. State Bar of California · 496 U.S. 1 (1990)
• Lehnert v. Ferris Faculty Assn. · 500 U.S. 507 (1991)
• Howard Delivery Service, Inc. v. Zurich American Insurance · 547 U.S. 651 (2006)
• Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Comm'n · 584 U.S. 617 (2018)

Official text

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

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Warren Earl Burger’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). 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).