Zuni Public School District No. 89, et al. v. Department of Education, et al.

Decided April 17, 2007. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 05-1508 · 550 U.S. 81 (2007) · Cited 139 times

Holding

The statute permits the Secretary to identify the school districts that should be “disregard” by looking to the number of the district’s pupils as well as to the size of the district’s expenditures per pupil.

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. 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.

• Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · 467 U.S. 837 (1984)
• Griffin v. Oceanic Contractors, Inc. · 458 U.S. 564 (1982)
• Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States · 143 U.S. 457 (1892)
• United States v. Ron Pair Enterprises, Inc. · 489 U.S. 235 (1989)
• Christensen v. Harris County · 529 U.S. 576 (2000)
• United States v. Gonzales · 520 U.S. 1 (1997)
• United States v. Mead Corp. · 533 U.S. 218 (2001)
• Duncan v. Walker · 533 U.S. 167 (2001)
• Food & Drug Administration v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. · 529 U.S. 120 (2000)
• Brown v. Gardner · 513 U.S. 115 (1994)
• Barnhart v. Sigmon Coal Co. · 534 U.S. 438 (2002)
• United Steelworkers of America v. Weber · 443 U.S. 193 (1979)
• Wisconsin Public Intervenor v. Mortier · 501 U.S. 597 (1991)
• MCI Telecommunications Corp. v. American Telephone & Telegraph Co. · 512 U.S. 218 (1994)
• Chisom v. Roemer · 501 U.S. 380 (1991)
• Koons Buick Pontiac GMC, Inc. v. Nigh · 543 U.S. 50 (2004)

Cited by

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

• Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly · 550 U.S. 544 (2007)
• Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Assn. · 575 U.S. 92 (2015)
• City of Arlington v. Fed. Commc'ns Comm'n · 569 U.S. 290 (2013)
• Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Assn. · 584 U.S. 453 (2018)
• Stanley v. City of Sanford · 606 U.S. 46 (2025)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Stephen Gerald Breyer’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2007). 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).