United States v. Ward, Dba L. O. Ward Oil & Gas Operations

Decided June 27, 1980. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 79-394 · 448 U.S. 242 (1980) · Cited 969 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 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.

• Boyd v. United States · 116 U.S. 616 (1886)
• Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez · 372 U.S. 144 (1963)
• Helvering v. Mitchell · 303 U.S. 391 (1938)
• Marchetti v. United States · 390 U.S. 39 (1968)
• United States v. Regan · 232 U.S. 37 (1914)
• One 1958 Plymouth Sedan v. Pennsylvania · 380 U.S. 693 (1965)
• Flemming v. Nestor · 363 U.S. 603 (1960)
• Grosso v. United States · 390 U.S. 62 (1968)
• United States v. United States Coin & Currency · 401 U.S. 715 (1971)
• Hepner v. United States · 213 U.S. 103 (1909)
• Bell v. Wolfish · 441 U.S. 520 (1979)
• Fisher v. United States · 425 U.S. 391 (1976)
• One Lot Emerald Cut Stones and One Ring v. United States · 409 U.S. 232 (1972)
• Rex Trailer Co. v. United States · 350 U.S. 148 (1956)

Cited by

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

• Hudson v. United States · 522 U.S. 93 (1997)
• Department of Revenue of Mont. v. Kurth Ranch · 511 U.S. 767 (1994)
• Austin v. United States · 509 U.S. 602 (1993)
• United States v. Ursery · 518 U.S. 267 (1996)
• United States v. One Assortment of 89 Firearms · 465 U.S. 354 (1984)
• Smith v. Doe · 538 U.S. 84 (2003)
• Kansas v. Hendricks · 521 U.S. 346 (1997)
• Allen v. Illinois · 478 U.S. 364 (1986)
• Seling v. Young · 531 U.S. 250 (2001)
• Sedima, S. P. R. L. v. Imrex Co. · 473 U.S. 479 (1985)
• United States v. Halper · 490 U.S. 435 (1989)
• United States v. Balsys · 524 U.S. 666 (1998)
• International Union, United Mine Workers v. Bagwell · 512 U.S. 821 (1994)
• Bennis v. Michigan · 516 U.S. 442 (1996)
• LaChance v. Erickson · 522 U.S. 262 (1998)

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).