Washington v. Seattle School District No. 1

458 U.S. 457 · Decided June 30, 1982 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Washington v. Seattle School District No. 1 was decided on June 30, 1982 by a vote of 5–4. The Court affirmed the lower court's decision. Justice Harry A. Blackmun wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “School desegregation” in the Civil Rights area. SCDB records that the Court declared a state or territorial law, regulation or constitutional provision unconstitutional.

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

Washington et al. v. Seattle School District No. 1 et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1981-161, docket 1981-161-01.

Related decisions

Other cases on “School desegregation”

• Crawford v. Board of Education of the City of Los Angeles
  458 U.S. 527Decided June 30, 19828–1Lewis F. Powell Jr.
• Bob Jones University v. United StatesAltered precedent
  461 U.S. 574Decided May 24, 19838–1Warren E. Burger
• Board of Education of the City School District of New York v. Harris
  444 U.S. 130Decided November 28, 19796–3Harry A. Blackmun
• Columbus Board of Education v. Penick
  443 U.S. 449Decided July 2, 19797–2Byron R. White
• Dayton Board of Education v. Brinkman
  443 U.S. 526Decided July 2, 19795–4Byron R. White
• Papasan v. Allain
  478 U.S. 265Decided July 7, 19865–4Byron R. White

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Cases on the same legal provision: Fourteenth Amendment (equal protection)

• Rogers v. LodgeLaw held unconstitutional
  458 U.S. 613Decided July 1, 19826–3Byron R. White
• Mississippi University for Women v. HoganLaw held unconstitutional
  458 U.S. 718Decided July 1, 19825–4Sandra Day O'Connor
• Plyler v. DoeLaw held unconstitutional
  457 U.S. 202Decided June 15, 19825–4William J. Brennan Jr.
• Zobel et Ux. v. WilliamsLaw held unconstitutional
  457 U.S. 55Decided June 14, 19828–1Warren E. Burger
• Mills v. HabluetzelLaw held unconstitutional
  456 U.S. 91Decided April 5, 19829–0William H. Rehnquist
• G.D. Searle & Co. v. Cohn
  455 U.S. 404Decided February 24, 19828–1Harry A. Blackmun

Same Term, same area (Civil Rights)

• Chardon v. Fernandez
  454 U.S. 6Decided November 2, 19816–3Per curiam
• Ralston v. Robinson
  454 U.S. 201Decided December 2, 19816–3Thurgood Marshall
• Polk County v. Dodson
  454 U.S. 312Decided December 14, 19818–1Lewis F. Powell Jr.
• Blanding v. Dubose
  454 U.S. 393Decided January 11, 19829–0Per curiam
• Cabell v. Chavez-Salido
  454 U.S. 432Decided January 12, 19825–4Byron R. White
• Merrion v. Jicarilla Apache Tribe
  455 U.S. 130Decided January 25, 19826–3Thurgood Marshall

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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