Washington v. United States

460 U.S. 536 · Decided March 29, 1983 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Washington v. United States was decided on March 29, 1983 by a vote of 5–4. The Court reversed the lower court's decision. Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “State or local government tax” in the Economic Activity 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

Washington et al. v. United States

SCDB identifiers: case 1982-048, docket 1982-048-01.

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Other cases on “State or local government tax”

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Cases on the same legal provision: Article VI, Section 2 (supremacy clause)

• Toll v. Moreno
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  457 U.S. 132Decided June 14, 19829–0Thurgood Marshall
• Lawrence County v. Lead-Deadwood School District No. 40-1Law held unconstitutional
  469 U.S. 256Decided January 9, 19857–2Byron R. White
• Rose v. Arkansas State PoliceLaw held unconstitutional
  479 U.S. 1Decided November 3, 19868–1Per curiam
• Rose v. Rose
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• George S. Bennett v. ArkansasLaw held unconstitutional
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Same Term, same area (Economic Activity)

• United States v. Security Industrial Bank
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• Xerox Corp. v. County of Harris
  459 U.S. 145Decided December 13, 19828–1Warren E. Burger
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  459 U.S. 297Decided January 11, 19838–1Sandra Day O'Connor
• Herman & Maclean v. Huddleston
  459 U.S. 375Decided January 24, 19838–0Thurgood Marshall
• Memphis Bank & Trust Co. v. Garner
  459 U.S. 392Decided January 24, 19839–0Thurgood Marshall
• Energy Reserves Group, Inc. v. Kansas Power & Light Co.
  459 U.S. 400Decided January 24, 19839–0Harry A. Blackmun

See all

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