Martin v. Wilks

490 U.S. 755 · Decided June 12, 1989 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Martin v. Wilks was decided on June 12, 1989 by a vote of 5–4. The Court affirmed the lower court's decision. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Affirmative action” 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

Full case caption

Martin et al. v. Wilks et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1988-102, docket 1988-102-01.

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Cases on the same legal provision: Federal Rules of Civil or Appellate Procedure

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Same Term, same area (Civil Rights)

• Town of Huntington v. Huntington Branch
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• Owens v. Okure
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• City of Richmond v. J. A. Croson CompanyLaw held unconstitutional
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• In re McDonald
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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