Monell v. Department of Social Services of the City of New York

436 U.S. 658 · Decided June 6, 1978 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Monell v. Department of Social Services of the City of New York was decided on June 6, 1978 by a vote of 7–2. 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. SCDB codes this decision as formally altering one or more of the Court's own precedents.

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

Monell et al. v. Department of Social Services of the City of New York et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1977-103, docket 1977-103-01.

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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