Thornburgh v. Abbott

490 U.S. 401 · Decided May 15, 1989 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Thornburgh v. Abbott was decided on May 15, 1989 by a vote of 6–3. The Court vacated the lower court's decision and remanded the case. Justice Harry A. Blackmun wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “First Amendment, miscellaneous” in the First Amendment area. SCDB codes this decision as formally altering one or more of the Court's own precedents.

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

Thornburgh, Attorney General of the United States, et al. v. Abbott et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1988-085, docket 1988-085-01.

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Same Term, same area (First Amendment)

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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