University of Pennsylvania v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Decided January 9, 1990. Harry Andrew Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 88-493 · 493 U.S. 182 (1990) · Cited 608 times

Holding

A university does not enjoy a special privilege requiring a judicial finding of particularized necessity of access, beyond a showing of mere relevance, before peer review materials pertinent to charges of discrimination in tenure decisions are disclosed to the EEOC.

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 9–0.

“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.

• Branzburg v. Hayes · 408 U.S. 665 (1972)
• United States v. Nixon · 418 U.S. 683 (1974)
• Keyishian v. Board of Regents of Univ. of State of NY · 385 U.S. 589 (1967)
• Trammel v. United States · 445 U.S. 40 (1980)
• Sweezy v. New Hampshire Ex Rel. Wyman · 354 U.S. 234 (1957)
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Shell Oil Co. · 466 U.S. 54 (1984)
• Douglas Oil Co. of Cal. v. Petrol Stops Northwest · 441 U.S. 211 (1979)
• Buckley v. Valeo · 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
• Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins · 490 U.S. 228 (1989)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama Ex Rel. Patterson · 357 U.S. 449 (1958)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. · 421 U.S. 132 (1975)
• Regents of the University of California v. Bakke · 438 U.S. 265 (1978)
• Police Dept. of Chicago v. Mosley · 408 U.S. 92 (1972)
• Heffron v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. · 452 U.S. 640 (1981)
• Herbert v. Lando · 441 U.S. 153 (1979)
• Regents of the University of Michigan v. Ewing · 474 U.S. 214 (1985)
• Clark v. United States · 289 U.S. 1 (1933)
• Occidental Life Insurance v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission · 432 U.S. 355 (1977)
• United States v. Bryan · 339 U.S. 323 (1950)
• Adler v. Board of Ed. of City of New York · 342 U.S. 485 (1952)
• Meese v. Keene · 481 U.S. 465 (1987)
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Associated Dry Goods Corp. · 449 U.S. 590 (1981)

Cited by

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

• McLane Co. v. EEOC · 581 U.S. 72 (2017)
• Jaffee v. Redmond · 518 U.S. 1 (1996)
• Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah · 508 U.S. 520 (1993)
• Swidler & Berlin v. United States · 524 U.S. 399 (1998)
• Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. · 501 U.S. 663 (1991)
• Pierce County v. Guillen · 537 U.S. 129 (2003)

Official text

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

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Harry Andrew Blackmun’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1990). 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).