Western Air Lines, Inc. v. Criswell et al.

Decided June 17, 1985. John Paul Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 83-1545 · 472 U.S. 400 (1985) · Cited 239 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.

• Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Thurston · 469 U.S. 111 (1985)
• Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine · 450 U.S. 248 (1981)
• Cupp v. Naughten · 414 U.S. 141 (1973)
• Furnco Construction Corp. v. Waters · 438 U.S. 567 (1978)
• Lorillard v. Pons · 434 U.S. 575 (1978)
• Dothard v. Rawlinson · 433 U.S. 321 (1977)
• United States Railroad Retirement Board v. Fritz · 449 U.S. 166 (1980)
• United States v. Park · 421 U.S. 658 (1975)
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Wyoming · 460 U.S. 226 (1983)
• United Air Lines, Inc. v. McMann · 434 U.S. 192 (1977)

Cited by

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

• International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement v. Johnson Controls, Inc. · 499 U.S. 187 (1991)
• Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents · 528 U.S. 62 (2000)
• Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory · 554 U.S. 84 (2008)
• Smith v. City of Jackson · 544 U.S. 228 (2005)
• Hazen Paper Co. v. Biggins · 507 U.S. 604 (1993)
• Gregory v. Ashcroft · 501 U.S. 452 (1991)
• General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc. v. Cline · 540 U.S. 581 (2004)
• Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio v. Betts · 492 U.S. 158 (1989)

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).