United States v. Shearer, Individually and as Administratrix for the Estate of Shearer
Decided June 27, 1985. Warren Earl Burger delivered the opinion of the Court.
Docket 84-194 · 473 U.S. 52 (1985) · Cited 602 times
Holding
Recovery under the Act is barred by the Feres doctrine, which is based, inter alia, on the special relationship of the soldier to his superiors, the effects of the maintenance of suits under the Act on discipline, and the extreme results that might obtain if such suits were allowed for negligent orders given or negligent acts committed in the course of military duty.
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.
Majority · 4
- Warren Earl Burger · delivered the opinion of the Court
- Byron Raymond White
- Sandra Day O'Connor
- William Hubbs Rehnquist
Concurring · 4
- Harry Andrew Blackmun
- John Paul Stevens
- Thurgood Marshall · filed a concurring opinion
- William Joseph Brennan Jr. · filed a concurring opinion
“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.
- Feres v. United States · 340 U.S. 135 (1950)
- Chappell v. Wallace · 462 U.S. 296 (1983)
- United States v. Muniz · 374 U.S. 150 (1963)
- Gilligan v. Morgan · 413 U.S. 1 (1973)
- United States v. Neustadt · 366 U.S. 696 (1961)
- United States v. Brown · 348 U.S. 110 (1954)
- Stencel Aero Engineering Corp. v. United States · 431 U.S. 666 (1977)
- Kosak v. United States · 465 U.S. 848 (1984)
- Brooks v. United States · 337 U.S. 49 (1949)
- United States v. Spelar · 338 U.S. 217 (1949)
Cited by
Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.
- United States v. Johnson · 481 U.S. 681 (1987)
- Sheridan v. United States · 487 U.S. 392 (1988)
- Saudi Arabia v. Nelson · 507 U.S. 349 (1993)
- Christopher v. Harbury · 536 U.S. 403 (2002)
- Levin v. United States · 568 U.S. 503 (2013)
Official text
Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)
Explore from here
Warren Earl Burger’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court
Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1985). 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).