Virginia v. American Booksellers Association, Inc., et al.

Decided January 25, 1988. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 86-1034 · 484 U.S. 383 (1988) · Cited 975 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 8–0.

“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.

• Broadrick v. Oklahoma · 413 U.S. 601 (1973)
• Ginsberg v. New York · 390 U.S. 629 (1968)
• Warth v. Seldin · 422 U.S. 490 (1975)
• Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc. v. Camp · 397 U.S. 150 (1970)
• Miller v. California · 413 U.S. 15 (1973)
• Craig v. Boren · 429 U.S. 190 (1976)
• Linda R. S. v. Richard D. · 410 U.S. 614 (1973)
• Doe v. Bolton · 410 U.S. 179 (1973)
• Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville · 422 U.S. 205 (1975)
• Secretary of State of Md. v. Joseph H. Munson Co. · 467 U.S. 947 (1984)
• Bolger v. Youngs Drug Products Corp. · 463 U.S. 60 (1983)
• Brockett v. Spokane Arcades, Inc. · 472 U.S. 491 (1985)
• Bellotti v. Baird · 428 U.S. 132 (1976)
• Butler v. Michigan · 352 U.S. 380 (1957)

Cited by

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

• Frisby v. Schultz · 487 U.S. 474 (1988)
• Arizonans for Official English v. Arizona · 520 U.S. 43 (1997)
• Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky · 585 U.S. 1 (2018)
• Iancu v. Brunetti · 588 U.S. 388 (2019)
• Expressions Hair Design v. Schneiderman · 581 U.S. 37 (2017)
• R. A. v. v. City of St. Paul · 505 U.S. 377 (1992)
• Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union · 521 U.S. 844 (1997)
• Stenberg v. Carhart · 530 U.S. 914 (2000)
• United States v. Stevens · 559 U.S. 460 (2010)
• Webster v. Reproductive Health Services · 492 U.S. 490 (1989)
• Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New Eng. · 546 U.S. 320 (2006)
• Massachusetts v. Oakes · 491 U.S. 576 (1989)
• Fort Wayne Books, Inc. v. Indiana · 489 U.S. 46 (1989)
• Trump v. New York · 592 U.S. 125 (2020)
• California v. Texas · 593 U.S. 659 (2021)
• Collins v. Yellen · 594 U.S. 220 (2021)
• Animal Science Products, Inc. v. Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical Co. · 585 U.S. 33 (2018)

Official text

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

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William Joseph Brennan Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

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).