United States v. Windsor

Decided June 26, 2013. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 12-307 · 570 U.S. 744 (2013) · Cited 647 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.

• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Chadha · 462 U.S. 919 (1983)
• Raines v. Byrd · 521 U.S. 811 (1997)
• Lawrence v. Texas · 539 U.S. 558 (2003)
• City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc. · 473 U.S. 432 (1985)
• Washington v. Glucksberg · 521 U.S. 702 (1997)
• Coleman v. Miller · 307 U.S. 433 (1939)
• Warth v. Seldin · 422 U.S. 490 (1975)
• Reed v. Reed · 404 U.S. 71 (1971)
• Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife · 504 U.S. 555 (1992)
• United States v. Virginia · 518 U.S. 515 (1996)
• Bolling v. Sharpe · 347 U.S. 497 (1954)
• United States Department of Agriculture v. Moreno · 413 U.S. 528 (1973)
• Palko v. Connecticut · 302 U.S. 319 (1937)
• Romer v. Evans · 517 U.S. 620 (1996)
• Deposit Guaranty National Bank v. Roper · 445 U.S. 326 (1980)
• Ankenbrandt Ex Rel. L. R. v. Richards · 504 U.S. 689 (1992)
• Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. · 551 U.S. 587 (2007)
• De Sylva v. Ballentine · 351 U.S. 570 (1956)
• Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona · 520 U.S. 43 (1997)
• Camreta v. Greene · 563 U.S. 692 (2011)
• Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County · 450 U.S. 464 (1981)
• Baker v. Carr · 369 U.S. 186 (1962)
• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• United States v. O'Brien · 391 U.S. 367 (1968)
• Flast v. Cohen · 392 U.S. 83 (1968)
• Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority · 297 U.S. 288 (1936)
• Snyder v. Massachusetts · 291 U.S. 97 (1934)
• Heller v. Doe Ex Rel. Doe · 509 U.S. 312 (1993)
• Loving v. Virginia · 388 U.S. 1 (1967)
• Sosna v. Iowa · 419 U.S. 393 (1975)

Cited by

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

• Obergefell v. Hodges · 576 U.S. 644 (2015)
• Bostock v. Clayton County · 590 U.S. 644 (2020)
• Flowers v. Mississippi · 588 U.S. 284 (2019)
• Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Comm'n · 584 U.S. 617 (2018)
• Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Comm'n · 576 U.S. 787 (2015)
• Haaland v. Brackeen · 599 U.S. 255 (2023)
• Berger v. North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP · 597 U.S. 179 (2022)
• United States v. Skrmetti · 605 U.S. 495 (2025)

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).