Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. Transport Workers Union of America

451 U.S. 77 · Decided April 20, 1981 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. Transport Workers Union of America was decided on April 20, 1981 unanimously (8–0). The Court affirmed the lower court's decision in part and reversed or vacated it in part. Justice John Paul Stevens 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: Harry A. Blackmun.

Full case caption

Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1980-071, docket 1980-071-01.

Related decisions

Other cases on “Employment discrimination (race, age, religion, illegitimacy, national origin, working conditions)”

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

• County of Washington v. Gunther
  452 U.S. 161Decided June 8, 19815–4William J. Brennan Jr.
• Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc.
  455 U.S. 385Decided February 24, 19828–0Byron R. White
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  447 U.S. 54Decided June 9, 19807–2Harry A. Blackmun
• General Telephone Company of the Northwest, Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
  446 U.S. 318Decided May 12, 19805–4Byron R. White
• Ford Motor Co. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
  458 U.S. 219Decided June 28, 19826–3Sandra Day O'Connor
• United Steelworkers of America v. Weber
  443 U.S. 193Decided June 27, 19795–2William J. Brennan Jr.

Same Term, same area (Civil Rights)

• Dennis v. Sparks
  449 U.S. 24Decided November 17, 19809–0Byron R. White
• Allen v. McCurry
  449 U.S. 90Decided December 9, 19806–3Potter Stewart
• United States Railroad Retirement Board v. Fritz
  449 U.S. 166Decided December 9, 19807–2William H. Rehnquist
• Delaware State College v. Ricks
  449 U.S. 250Decided December 15, 19805–4Lewis F. Powell Jr.
• Fedorenko v. United States
  449 U.S. 490Decided January 21, 19817–2Thurgood Marshall
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Associated Dry Goods Corp.
  449 U.S. 590Decided January 26, 19816–1Potter Stewart

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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