Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc., et al.

Decided January 12, 1982. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 80-327 · 454 U.S. 464 (1982) · Cited 4,651 times

Holding

Respondents do not have standing, either in their capacity as taxpayers or as citizens, to challenge the conveyance in question.

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 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.

• Flast v. Cohen · 392 U.S. 83 (1968)
• Massachusetts v. Mellon · 262 U.S. 447 (1923)
• Everson v. Board of Ed. of Ewing · 330 U.S. 1 (1947)
• Schlesinger v. Reservists Committee to Stop the War · 418 U.S. 208 (1974)
• Warth v. Seldin · 422 U.S. 490 (1975)
• Doremus v. Board of Ed. of Hawthorne · 342 U.S. 429 (1952)
• United States v. Richardson · 418 U.S. 166 (1974)
• Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, Inc. · 438 U.S. 59 (1978)
• Simon v. Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights Organization · 426 U.S. 26 (1976)
• Gladstone, Realtors v. Village of Bellwood · 441 U.S. 91 (1979)
• Linda R. S. v. Richard D. · 410 U.S. 614 (1973)
• Reynolds v. United States · 98 U.S. 145 (1879)
• United States v. Students Challenging Regulatory Agency Procedures (SCRAP) · 412 U.S. 669 (1973)
• Baker v. Carr · 369 U.S. 186 (1962)
• Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc. v. Camp · 397 U.S. 150 (1970)
• Tilton v. Richardson · 403 U.S. 672 (1971)
• Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. · 429 U.S. 252 (1977)
• Sierra Club v. Morton · 405 U.S. 727 (1972)
• Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath · 341 U.S. 123 (1951)
• Barlow v. Collins · 397 U.S. 159 (1970)
• Chicago & Grand Trunk Railway Co. v. Wellman · 143 U.S. 339 (1892)
• Jones v. United States · 362 U.S. 257 (1960)
• Singleton v. Wulff · 428 U.S. 106 (1976)
• O'Shea v. Littleton · 414 U.S. 488 (1974)
• Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority · 297 U.S. 288 (1936)
• Lemon v. Kurtzman · 403 U.S. 602 (1971)
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
• Walz v. Tax Comm'n of City of New York · 397 U.S. 664 (1970)
• Laird v. Tatum · 408 U.S. 1 (1972)
• Murdock v. Pennsylvania · 319 U.S. 105 (1943)

Cited by

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

• Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. · 551 U.S. 587 (2007)
• Allen v. Wright · 468 U.S. 737 (1984)
• FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine · 602 U.S. 367 (2024)
• Raines v. Byrd · 521 U.S. 811 (1997)
• Asarco Inc. v. Kadish · 490 U.S. 605 (1989)
• DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. Cuno · 547 U.S. 332 (2006)
• Bush v. Vera · 517 U.S. 952 (1996)
• Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins · 578 U.S. 330 (2016)
• Clapper v. Amnesty International USA · 568 U.S. 398 (2013)
• Whitmore Ex Rel. Simmons v. Arkansas · 495 U.S. 149 (1990)
• American Legion v. American Humanist Assn. · 588 U.S. 29 (2019)
• Bennett v. Spear · 520 U.S. 154 (1997)
• United States v. Hays · 515 U.S. 737 (1995)
• Rita v. United States · 551 U.S. 338 (2007)
• Lexmark Int'l, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc. · 572 U.S. 118 (2014)
• Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency · 549 U.S. 497 (2007)
• Genesis HealthCare Corp. v. Symczyk · 569 U.S. 66 (2013)
• United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 751 v. Brown Group, Inc. · 517 U.S. 544 (1996)
• Bowen v. Kendrick · 487 U.S. 589 (1988)
• Thole v. U. S. Bank N. A. · 590 U.S. 538 (2020)
• United States Department of Labor v. Triplett · 494 U.S. 715 (1990)
• Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Comm'n · 576 U.S. 787 (2015)
• Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife · 504 U.S. 555 (1992)
• Lewis v. Casey · 518 U.S. 343 (1996)
• City of Los Angeles v. Lyons · 461 U.S. 95 (1983)
• Spencer v. Kemna · 523 U.S. 1 (1998)
• Thomas v. Union Carbide Agricultural Products Co. · 473 U.S. 568 (1985)
• Diamond v. Charles · 476 U.S. 54 (1986)
• Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski · 592 U.S. 279 (2021)
• Wyoming v. Oklahoma · 502 U.S. 437 (1992)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1982). 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).