Franks v. Bowman Transportation Co., Inc.

424 U.S. 747 · Decided March 24, 1976 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Franks v. Bowman Transportation Co., Inc. was decided on March 24, 1976 by a vote of 5–3. The Court reversed the lower court's decision and remanded the case. Justice William J. Brennan Jr. wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Employment discrimination (race, age, religion, illegitimacy, national origin, working conditions)” in the Civil Rights area.

Read the opinion

• CourtListener (Free Law Project) — opinion text
• Library of Congress — official U.S. Reports scan

Case details

How the Justices voted

Did not participate: John Paul Stevens.

Full case caption

Franks et al. v. Bowman Transportation Co., Inc., et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1975-058, docket 1975-058-01.

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Cases on the same legal provision: Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII)

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Same Term, same area (Civil Rights)

• Turner v. Department of Employment Security of UtahLaw held unconstitutional
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• Fisher v. District Court of the Sixteenth Judicial District of Montana
  424 U.S. 382Decided March 1, 19769–0Per curiam
• Imbler v. Pachtman
  424 U.S. 409Decided March 2, 19768–0Lewis F. Powell Jr.
• Lavine v. Milne
  424 U.S. 577Decided March 3, 19768–0Byron R. White

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Source: Supreme Court Database, 2026 Release 01 (data file dated September 8, 2026). Imported into CaseTrail November 5, 2026. Coverage: decisions from the 1946 through 2025 Terms. Methodology · Report an error