Wyoming v. Sandra Houghton

Decided April 5, 1999. Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 98-184 · 526 U.S. 295 (1999) · Cited 987 times

Holding

A named defendant’s time to remove is triggered by simultaneous service of the summons and complaint, or receipt of the complaint, “through service or otherwise,” after and apart from service of the summons, but not by mere receipt of the complaint unattended by any formal service.

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.

• United States v. Ross · 456 U.S. 798 (1982)
• Carroll v. United States · 267 U.S. 132 (1925)
• United States v. Di Re · 332 U.S. 581 (1948)
• Ybarra v. Illinois · 444 U.S. 85 (1979)
• Terry v. Ohio · 392 U.S. 1 (1968)
• Sibron v. New York · 392 U.S. 40 (1968)
• California v. Acevedo · 500 U.S. 565 (1991)
• California v. Carney · 471 U.S. 386 (1985)
• Zurcher v. Stanford Daily · 436 U.S. 547 (1978)
• United States v. Johns · 469 U.S. 478 (1985)
• Mincey v. Arizona · 437 U.S. 385 (1978)
• Boyd v. United States · 116 U.S. 616 (1886)
• California v. Hodari D. · 499 U.S. 621 (1991)
• South Dakota v. Opperman · 428 U.S. 364 (1976)
• Brown v. Texas · 443 U.S. 47 (1979)
• Rawlings v. Kentucky · 448 U.S. 98 (1980)
• New Jersey v. T. L. O. · 469 U.S. 325 (1985)
• Berkovitz v. United States · 486 U.S. 531 (1988)
• Maryland v. Wilson · 519 U.S. 408 (1997)
• Arizona v. Hicks · 480 U.S. 321 (1987)
• Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton · 515 U.S. 646 (1995)
• Cardwell v. Lewis · 417 U.S. 583 (1974)
• Wilson v. Arkansas · 514 U.S. 927 (1995)
• Ex Parte Jackson · 96 U.S. 727 (1878)
• Chandler v. Miller · 520 U.S. 305 (1997)
• United States v. Padilla · 508 U.S. 77 (1993)

Cited by

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

• Atwater v. City of Lago Vista · 532 U.S. 318 (2001)
• Virginia v. Moore · 553 U.S. 164 (2008)
• Florida v. Jardines · 569 U.S. 1 (2013)
• Maryland v. King · 569 U.S. 435 (2013)
• Thornton v. United States · 541 U.S. 615 (2004)
• Maryland v. Pringle · 540 U.S. 366 (2003)
• United States v. Knights · 534 U.S. 112 (2001)
• Safford Unified School District 1 v. Redding · 557 U.S. 364 (2009)
• Collins v. Virginia · 584 U.S. 586 (2018)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1999). 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).