Watson v. Fort Worth Bank & Trust

487 U.S. 977 · Decided June 29, 1988 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Watson v. Fort Worth Bank & Trust was decided on June 29, 1988 unanimously (8–0). The Court vacated the lower court's decision and remanded the case. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor 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: Anthony M. Kennedy.

Full case caption

Watson v. Fort Worth Bank & Trust

SCDB identifiers: case 1987-156, docket 1987-156-01.

Related decisions

Other cases on “Employment discrimination (race, age, religion, illegitimacy, national origin, working conditions)”

• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Commercial Office Products Co.
  486 U.S. 107Decided May 16, 19885–3Thurgood Marshall
• Wards Cove Packing Co., Inc. v. Atonio
  490 U.S. 642Decided June 5, 19895–4Byron R. White
• Lorance v. AT&T Technologies, Inc.
  490 U.S. 900Decided June 12, 19895–3Antonin Scalia
• Patterson v. McLean Credit Union
  491 U.S. 164Decided June 15, 19895–4Anthony M. Kennedy
• Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio v. Betts
  492 U.S. 158Decided June 23, 19897–2Anthony M. Kennedy
• Ansonia Board of Education v. Philbrook
  479 U.S. 60Decided November 17, 19868–1William H. Rehnquist

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Cases on the same legal provision: Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII)

• Loeffler v. Frank
  486 U.S. 549Decided June 13, 19885–3Harry A. Blackmun
• Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins
  490 U.S. 228Decided May 1, 19896–3William J. Brennan Jr.
• Independent Federation of Flight Attendants v. Zipes
  491 U.S. 754Decided June 22, 19896–2Antonin Scalia
• Goodman v. Lukens Steel Co.
  482 U.S. 656Decided June 19, 19876–3Byron R. White
• Johnson v. Transportation Agency
  480 U.S. 616Decided March 24, 19876–3William J. Brennan Jr.
• California Federal Savings & Loan Assn. v. Guerra
  479 U.S. 272Decided January 13, 19876–3Thurgood Marshall

Same Term, same area (Civil Rights)

• Ronald W. Reagan v. James Abourezk
  484 U.S. 1Decided October 19, 19873–3
• Langley et Ux. v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
  484 U.S. 86Decided December 1, 19878–0Antonin Scalia
• Forrester v. White
  484 U.S. 219Decided January 12, 19888–0Sandra Day O'Connor
• Honig v. Doe
  484 U.S. 305Decided January 20, 19886–2William J. Brennan Jr.
• Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Assibi Abudu
  485 U.S. 94Decided March 1, 19888–0John Paul Stevens
• City of St. Louis v. James H. Praprotnik
  485 U.S. 112Decided March 2, 19887–1Sandra Day O'Connor

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