United States v. New York Telephone Co.

Decided December 7, 1977. Byron Raymond White delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 76-835 · 434 U.S. 159 (1977) · Cited 871 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 5–4.

“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.

• Katz v. United States · 389 U.S. 347 (1967)
• Harris v. Nelson · 394 U.S. 286 (1969)
• Warden, Maryland Penitentiary v. Hayden · 387 U.S. 294 (1967)
• Price v. Johnston · 334 U.S. 266 (1948)
• Osborn v. United States · 385 U.S. 323 (1966)
• Adams v. United States Ex Rel. McCann · 317 U.S. 269 (1943)
• Federal Trade Commission v. Dean Foods Co. · 384 U.S. 597 (1966)
• Sampson v. Murray · 415 U.S. 61 (1974)
• United States v. Giordano · 416 U.S. 505 (1974)
• Link v. Wabash Railroad · 370 U.S. 626 (1962)
• Roe v. Wade · 410 U.S. 113 (1973)
• Dandridge v. Williams · 397 U.S. 471 (1970)
• Roviaro v. United States · 353 U.S. 53 (1957)
• Henry v. United States · 361 U.S. 98 (1959)
• Weinstein v. Bradford · 423 U.S. 147 (1975)
• Harris v. United States · 331 U.S. 145 (1947)
• Gouled v. United States · 255 U.S. 298 (1921)
• United States v. White · 401 U.S. 745 (1971)
• United States v. Hayman · 342 U.S. 205 (1952)
• Stanford v. Texas · 379 U.S. 476 (1965)
• Langnes v. Green · 282 U.S. 531 (1931)
• Wong Yang Sung v. McGrath · 339 U.S. 33 (1950)
• Davis v. United States · 328 U.S. 582 (1946)
• Frank v. Maryland · 359 U.S. 360 (1959)
• Hamilton v. Regents of the University of California · 293 U.S. 245 (1934)
• Helvering v. Morgan's, Inc. · 293 U.S. 121 (1934)
• American Tobacco Co. v. Werckmeister · 207 U.S. 284 (1907)
• McIntire v. Wood · 11 U.S. 504 (1813)
• Rosenbaum v. Bauer · 120 U.S. 450 (1887)

Cited by

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

• Smith v. Maryland · 442 U.S. 735 (1979)
• Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. v. Henson · 537 U.S. 28 (2002)
• Dalia v. United States · 441 U.S. 238 (1979)
• General Building Contractors Assn., Inc. v. Pennsylvania · 458 U.S. 375 (1982)
• Thigpen v. Roberts · 468 U.S. 27 (1984)
• Pennsylvania Bureau of Correction v. United States Marshals Service · 474 U.S. 34 (1985)
• Whitley v. Albers · 475 U.S. 312 (1986)
• Smith v. Phillips · 455 U.S. 209 (1982)
• Cannon v. University of Chicago · 441 U.S. 677 (1979)
• Boag v. MacDougall · 454 U.S. 364 (1982)
• Granfinanciera, S.A. v. Nordberg · 492 U.S. 33 (1989)
• Block v. North Dakota Ex Rel. Board of University & School Lands · 461 U.S. 273 (1983)
• Colautti v. Franklin · 439 U.S. 379 (1979)
• Illinois State Board of Elections v. Socialist Workers Party · 440 U.S. 173 (1979)
• Edgar v. Mite Corp. · 457 U.S. 624 (1982)
• Broadcast Music, Inc. v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. · 441 U.S. 1 (1979)
• Doe v. United States · 487 U.S. 201 (1988)
• United States v. Arthur Young & Co. · 465 U.S. 805 (1984)
• Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Echazabal · 536 U.S. 73 (2002)
• Detroit Edison Co. v. National Labor Relations Board · 440 U.S. 301 (1979)
• Wise v. Lipscomb · 437 U.S. 535 (1978)
• Herb's Welding, Inc. v. Gray · 470 U.S. 414 (1985)
• Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. County of Kent · 510 U.S. 355 (1994)
• Swisher v. Brady · 438 U.S. 204 (1978)

Official text

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

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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).