University of Tennessee v. Elliott

478 U.S. 788 · Decided July 7, 1986 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

University of Tennessee v. Elliott was decided on July 7, 1986 by a vote of 5–3. The Court affirmed the lower court's decision in part, reversed or vacated it in part, and remanded the case. Justice Byron R. White 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: Thurgood Marshall.

Full case caption

University of Tennessee et al. v. Elliott

SCDB identifiers: case 1985-163, docket 1985-163-01.

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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