United States v. Salerno et al.

Decided May 26, 1987. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 86-87 · 481 U.S. 739 (1987) · Cited 5,104 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 6–3.

“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.

• Schall v. Martin · 467 U.S. 253 (1984)
• Stack v. Boyle · 342 U.S. 1 (1951)
• Carlson v. Landon · 342 U.S. 524 (1952)
• Gerstein v. Pugh · 420 U.S. 103 (1975)
• Bell v. Wolfish · 441 U.S. 520 (1979)
• Furman v. Georgia · 408 U.S. 238 (1972)
• Palko v. Connecticut · 302 U.S. 319 (1937)
• Jurek v. Texas · 428 U.S. 262 (1976)
• Golden v. Zwickler · 394 U.S. 103 (1969)
• Mathews v. Eldridge · 424 U.S. 319 (1976)
• In Re WINSHIP · 397 U.S. 358 (1970)
• Rochin v. California · 342 U.S. 165 (1952)
• Addington v. Texas · 441 U.S. 418 (1979)
• Snyder v. Massachusetts · 291 U.S. 97 (1934)
• Estelle v. Williams · 425 U.S. 501 (1976)
• Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez · 372 U.S. 144 (1963)
• Trop v. Dulles · 356 U.S. 86 (1958)
• United States v. Rabinowitz · 339 U.S. 56 (1950)
• Sosna v. Iowa · 419 U.S. 393 (1975)
• Jackson v. Indiana · 406 U.S. 715 (1972)
• Lochner v. New York · 198 U.S. 45 (1905)
• Taylor v. Kentucky · 436 U.S. 478 (1978)
• Wong Wing v. United States · 163 U.S. 228 (1896)
• De Veau v. Braisted · 363 U.S. 144 (1960)
• Kentucky v. Whorton · 441 U.S. 786 (1979)
• Greenwood v. United States · 350 U.S. 366 (1956)
• Burke v. Barnes · 479 U.S. 361 (1987)
• Ludecke v. Watkins · 335 U.S. 160 (1948)
• Moyer v. Peabody · 212 U.S. 78 (1909)

Cited by

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

• Foucha v. Louisiana · 504 U.S. 71 (1992)
• City of Chicago v. Morales · 527 U.S. 41 (1999)
• Demore v. Kim · 538 U.S. 510 (2003)
• Reno v. Flores · 507 U.S. 292 (1993)
• City of L. A. v. Patel · 576 U.S. 409 (2015)
• District of Columbia v. Heller · 554 U.S. 570 (2008)
• Kingsley v. Hendrickson · 576 U.S. 389 (2015)
• Kansas v. Hendricks · 521 U.S. 346 (1997)
• Washington State Grange v. Washington State Republican Party · 552 U.S. 442 (2008)
• Washington v. Glucksberg · 521 U.S. 702 (1997)
• United States v. Montalvo-Murillo · 495 U.S. 711 (1990)
• Hamdi v. Rumsfeld · 542 U.S. 507 (2004)
• United States v. Rahimi · 602 U.S. 680 (2024)
• United States v. Booker · 543 U.S. 220 (2005)
• Moody v. NetChoice, LLC · 603 U.S. 707 (2024)
• Bondi v. Vanderstok · 604 U.S. 458 (2025)
• Johnson v. United States · 576 U.S. 591 (2015)
• Zadvydas v. Davis · 533 U.S. 678 (2001)
• Obergefell v. Hodges · 576 U.S. 644 (2015)
• Maryland v. King · 569 U.S. 435 (2013)
• National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley · 524 U.S. 569 (1998)
• Shelby County v. Holder · 570 U.S. 529 (2013)
• Mont v. United States · 587 U.S. 514 (2019)
• County of Sacramento v. Lewis · 523 U.S. 833 (1998)
• McDonald v. City of Chicago · 561 U.S. 742 (2010)
• United States v. Stevens · 559 U.S. 460 (2010)
• Arizona v. United States · 567 U.S. 387 (2012)
• Virginia v. Black · 538 U.S. 343 (2003)
• Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered v. United States · 491 U.S. 617 (1989)
• Seling v. Young · 531 U.S. 250 (2001)

Official text

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

Explore from here

William Hubbs Rehnquist’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).