Wisconsin Central Ltd. v. United States

Decided June 21, 2018. Neil M. Gorsuch delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 17-530 · 585 U.S. 274 (2018) · Cited 278 times

Holding

Employee stock options are not taxable “compensation” under the Railroad Retirement Tax Act of 1937.

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. The lineup is the syllabus’s disposition of who wrote and joined each opinion. Source: the opinion’s syllabus (supremecourt.gov).

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.

• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Cardoza-Fonseca · 480 U.S. 421 (1987)
• Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · 467 U.S. 837 (1984)
• Perrin v. United States · 444 U.S. 37 (1979)
• Skidmore v. Swift & Co. · 323 U.S. 134 (1944)
• United States v. Mead Corp. · 533 U.S. 218 (2001)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• Eisner v. MacOmber · 252 U.S. 189 (1920)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Bell Aerospace Co. · 416 U.S. 267 (1974)
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Schor · 478 U.S. 833 (1986)
• Watt v. Alaska · 451 U.S. 259 (1981)
• Hisquierdo v. Hisquierdo · 439 U.S. 572 (1979)
• Norwegian Nitrogen Products Co. v. United States · 288 U.S. 294 (1933)
• Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. · 568 U.S. 519 (2013)
• Keokee Consolidated Coke Co. v. Taylor · 234 U.S. 224 (1914)

Cited by

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

• Bostock v. Clayton County · 590 U.S. 644 (2020)
• New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira · 586 U.S. 105 (2019)
• Barton v. Barr · 590 U.S. 222 (2020)
• Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Christian · 590 U.S. 1 (2020)
• Jam v. International Finance Corp. · 586 U.S. 199 (2019)
• Brown v. United States · 602 U.S. 101 (2024)
• Stanley v. City of Sanford · 606 U.S. 46 (2025)

Official text

Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)

Explore from here

Neil M. Gorsuch’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2018). 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).