District of Columbia v. Carter

409 U.S. 418 · Decided January 10, 1973 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

District of Columbia v. Carter was decided on January 10, 1973 unanimously (9–0). The Court reversed the lower court's decision. Justice William J. Brennan Jr. wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Liability under civil rights acts” 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

District of Columbia v. Carter

SCDB identifiers: case 1972-033, docket 1972-033-01.

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Other cases on “Liability under civil rights acts”

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Cases on the same legal provision: 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Reconstruction Civil Rights Acts)

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Same Term, same area (Civil Rights)

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• Gomez v. PerezLaw held unconstitutional
  409 U.S. 535Decided January 17, 19737–2Per curiam
• Mahan v. HowellLaw held unconstitutional
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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