Wards Cove Packing Co., Inc. v. Atonio

490 U.S. 642 · Decided June 5, 1989 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Wards Cove Packing Co., Inc. v. Atonio was decided on June 5, 1989 by a vote of 5–4. The Court reversed the lower court's decision 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

Full case caption

Wards Cove Packing Co., Inc., et al. v. Atonio et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1988-097, docket 1988-097-01.

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Same Term, same area (Civil Rights)

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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