Vernonia School District 47j v. Wayne Acton, et Ux., Etc.

Decided June 26, 1995. Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 94-590 · 515 U.S. 646 (1995) · Cited 1,470 times

Holding

The Policy is constitutional under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments.

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 6–3.

“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.

• Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Assn. · 489 U.S. 602 (1989)
• New Jersey v. T. L. O. · 469 U.S. 325 (1985)
• National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab · 489 U.S. 656 (1989)
• Bell v. Wolfish · 441 U.S. 520 (1979)
• Carroll v. United States · 267 U.S. 132 (1925)
• United States v. Martinez-Fuerte · 428 U.S. 543 (1976)
• Ingraham v. Wright · 430 U.S. 651 (1977)
• Goss v. Lopez · 419 U.S. 565 (1975)
• Camara v. Municipal Court of City and County of San Francisco · 387 U.S. 523 (1967)
• Griffin v. Wisconsin · 483 U.S. 868 (1987)
• Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser · 478 U.S. 675 (1986)
• Delaware v. Prouse · 440 U.S. 648 (1979)
• Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District · 393 U.S. 503 (1969)
• Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz · 496 U.S. 444 (1990)
• Illinois v. Krull · 480 U.S. 340 (1987)
• DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services · 489 U.S. 189 (1989)
• South Dakota v. Opperman · 428 U.S. 364 (1976)
• Elkins v. United States · 364 U.S. 206 (1960)
• Ybarra v. Illinois · 444 U.S. 85 (1979)
• Arizona v. Hicks · 480 U.S. 321 (1987)
• New York v. Burger · 482 U.S. 691 (1987)
• O'CONNOR v. Ortega · 480 U.S. 709 (1987)
• United States v. Montoya De Hernandez · 473 U.S. 531 (1985)
• Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier · 484 U.S. 260 (1988)
• United States v. Biswell · 406 U.S. 311 (1972)
• Cupp v. Murphy · 412 U.S. 291 (1973)

Cited by

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

• Board of Education of Independent School District No. 92 of Pottawatomie County v. Earls · 536 U.S. 822 (2002)
• Morse v. Frederick · 551 U.S. 393 (2007)
• Maryland v. King · 569 U.S. 435 (2013)
• Ferguson v. City of Charleston · 532 U.S. 67 (2001)
• Chandler v. Miller · 520 U.S. 305 (1997)
• Birchfield v. N. Dakota. William Robert Bernard · 579 U.S. 438 (2016)
• City of L. A. v. Patel · 576 U.S. 409 (2015)
• Grady v. North Carolina · 575 U.S. 306 (2015)
• Mitchell v. Wisconsin · 588 U.S. 840 (2019)
• Davis Ex Rel. LaShonda D. v. Monroe County Board of Education · 526 U.S. 629 (1999)
• Atwater v. City of Lago Vista · 532 U.S. 318 (2001)
• City of Indianapolis v. Edmond · 531 U.S. 32 (2000)
• Carpenter v. United States · 585 U.S. 296 (2018)
• Wyoming v. Houghton · 526 U.S. 295 (1999)
• Safford Unified School District 1 v. Redding · 557 U.S. 364 (2009)
• Lawrence Ex Rel. Lawrence v. Chater · 516 U.S. 163 (1996)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1995). 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).