Zivotofsky v. Kerry

Decided June 8, 2015. Anthony McLeod Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 13-628 · 576 U.S. 1 (2015) · Cited 144 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 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.

• Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer · 343 U.S. 579 (1952)
• United States v. Pink · 315 U.S. 203 (1942)
• United States v. Comstock · 560 U.S. 126 (2010)
• United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. · 299 U.S. 304 (1936)
• Dames & Moore v. Regan · 453 U.S. 654 (1981)
• Banco Nacional De Cuba v. Sabbatino · 376 U.S. 398 (1964)
• Medellin v. Texas · 552 U.S. 491 (2008)
• United States v. Wong Kim Ark · 169 U.S. 649 (1898)
• United States v. Belmont · 301 U.S. 324 (1937)
• Zivotofsky Ex Rel. Zivotofsky v. Clinton · 566 U.S. 189 (2012)
• Crosby v. National Foreign Trade Council · 530 U.S. 363 (2000)
• Zemel v. Rusk · 381 U.S. 1 (1965)
• Kent v. Dulles · 357 U.S. 116 (1958)
• Haig v. Agee · 453 U.S. 280 (1981)
• Guaranty Trust Co. v. United States · 304 U.S. 126 (1938)
• Oetjen v. Central Leather Co. · 246 U.S. 297 (1918)
• Hamdan v. Rumsfeld · 548 U.S. 557 (2006)
• Little v. Barreme · 6 U.S. 170 (1804)
• National City Bank of NY v. Republic of China · 348 U.S. 356 (1955)
• Baker v. Carr · 369 U.S. 186 (1962)
• United States v. Lopez · 514 U.S. 549 (1995)
• Freytag v. Commissioner · 501 U.S. 868 (1991)
• United States v. Morrison · 529 U.S. 598 (2000)
• Hamdi v. Rumsfeld · 542 U.S. 507 (2004)
• Nixon v. Administrator of General Services · 433 U.S. 425 (1977)
• Gonzales v. Raich · 545 U.S. 1 (2005)
• Boumediene v. Bush · 553 U.S. 723 (2008)
• Knowlton v. Moore · 178 U.S. 41 (1900)
• Edye v. Robertson · 112 U.S. 580 (1884)
• Bowen v. Roy · 476 U.S. 693 (1986)

Cited by

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

• Trump v. Vance · 591 U.S. 786 (2020)
• Trump v. United States · 603 U.S. 593 (2024)
• Bank Markazi v. Peterson · 578 U.S. 212 (2016)
• Obergefell v. Hodges · 576 U.S. 644 (2015)
• Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Comm'n · 576 U.S. 787 (2015)
• United States v. Zubaydah · 595 U.S. 195 (2022)

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).