Flast et al. v. Cohen, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, et al.
The Court held that federal taxpayers have standing to seek relief from the courts for claims that federal tax money is being used for unconstitutional purposes in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
392 U.S. 83 · No. 416 · 1967 term · Warren Court
Decided Jun 10, 1968 · argued Mar 12, 1968
Judicial power · Standing to sue: taxpayer's suit
Landmark · Freedom of religion
Majority opinion: Earl Warren
The voteMajorityDissent
8–18 in the majority, 1 in dissent
1 dissent (8–1)
Reversed. Flast et al. won.
What this ruling means
Reversed: the Supreme Court overturned the decision of the New York Southern U.S. District Court, and its own ruling ends the case.
Flast et al. was the petitioner, the side that asked the Supreme Court to review the case. “Won” means the Court gave that side the result it asked for.
From the Supreme Court Database. A justice who agreed with the result but not the reasoning counts in the majority.
Summary
The opening of the case’s Wikipedia article: what the case was about and what the Court held.
Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83 (1968), was a United States Supreme Court case holding that federal taxpayers have standing to seek relief from the courts for claims that federal tax money is being used for unconstitutional purposes in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
The Supreme Court decided in Frothingham v. Mellon (1923), that a taxpayer did not have standing to sue the federal government to prevent expenditures if his only injury is an anticipated increase in taxes. Frothingham v. Mellon did not recognize a constitutional barrier against federal taxpayer lawsuits; rather, it denied standing because the petitioner did not allege "a breach by Congress of the specific constitutional limitations imposed upon an exercise of the taxing and spending power." Because the purpose of standing is to avoid burdening the court with situations in which there is no real controversy, standing is used to ensure that the parties in the suit are properly adversarial, "not whether the issue itself is justiciable."
In 1968, Florence Flast joined several others in filing a lawsuit against Wilbur Cohen, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, contending that spending funds on religious schools violated the First Amendment's ban on the establishment of religion. The district court denied standing, and the Supreme Court heard the appeal.
Data notes
The text is Wikipedia’s (CC BY-SA 4.0), matched to the case by its citation, docket number or name and year, and is not checked against the opinion. The site keeps the article’s opening section, ending on its last full sentence. The one-sentence summary under the title is the Decisions list’s: Wikipedia’s own ruling sentence, or, tagged “AI-written”, one Claude wrote from this opening.
How the justices voted
Each justice who took part, placed by their Martin–Quinn ideology score for the 1967 term. Filled: the 8 in the majority. Hollow: the 1 in dissent. Colour is the party of the president who appointed them.
Majority(8)
Earl WarrenWrote the majority opinion
William DouglasWrote a concurrence
Abe FortasWrote a concurrence
Potter StewartWrote a concurrence
William BrennanJoined the majority
Thurgood MarshallJoined the majority
Hugo BlackJoined the majority
Byron WhiteJoined the majority
Dissent(1)
John HarlanWrote a dissent
Data notes
Each justice’s vote and what they wrote are from the justice-centered file of the Supreme Court Database. “Wrote a concurrence” means the justice sided with the majority and wrote separately; a justice who dissented in part is counted on the side they took overall. A justice who wrote nothing is listed as joining their side.
Positions are each justice’s Martin–Quinn score for the case’s term, the same scores as the Ideology page: negative is more liberal, positive more conservative. A score sums up a justice’s votes across the whole term, so it says where they usually sit, not why they voted as they did here. The median line is the Court’s median justice that term.
The parties
Who brought the case to the Court, who answered it, and how it got there.
- Petitioner
- Flast et al.Taxpayer or executor of taxpayer's estate, federal only
- Respondent
- Cohen, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, et al.Department or Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare
- Reached the Court by
- Appeal (the Court was required to hear it)
Data notes
The names are the two sides of the case’s title. The description under each is the Supreme Court Database’s category for that party, in its own wording. The petitioner is the side that asked the Supreme Court to review the decision below. “Why it was taken” appears only when the majority opinion says lower courts disagreed or were unsure about the question; reasons that would fit any case (“to resolve the question presented”, “an important question”) are left out.
The law at issue
The law the Court was asked to apply, and the kind of power it used to decide.
- Provision
- Article III, Section 2, Paragraph 1 (case or controversy requirement)
- Kind of law
- Constitution
- Decided by
- Judicial review (national level)
Data notes
The Supreme Court Database codes the main constitutional provision, statute or court rule each case turned on, and the basis of the decision: judicial review of a federal or state law, interpreting a statute, supervising the lower courts, and so on. A case can rest on more than one. “Overruled” counts only where the majority opinion says so.
Timeline
What happened at the Court and how the case got there, newest first.
- Jun 10, 1968DecidedDecided · Decided 8–1: reversed. Flast et al. won.
- Mar 12, 1968ArguedArgued · Oral argument before the Court.
- Not datedTaken upTaken up · Reached the Supreme Court on appeal, which the Court had to hear.
- Not datedCourt belowCourt below · Began in and was decided by the New York Southern U.S. District Court, with a dissent.
Data notes
From the Supreme Court Database: the court the case began in, the court whose decision the Supreme Court reviewed and what that court did, how the case came to the Court, and the dates of argument and decision. The database does not date the steps in the lower courts. Court names are the database’s.
Other decisions on the same issue
6 other argued cases since 1946 on standing to sue: taxpayer's suit, newest first.
- Jay F. Hein, Director, White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, et al. v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc., et al.551 U.S. 587Jun 25, 2007 · 551 U.S. 587Judicial power5–45–4 band
- Daimlerchrysler Corporation v. Charlotte Cuno et al.547 U.S. 332May 15, 2006 · 547 U.S. 332Judicial power9–0Unanimous band
- Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc., et al.454 U.S. 464Jan 12, 1982 · 454 U.S. 464Judicial power5–45–4 band
- Schlesinger, Secretary of Defense, et al. v. Reservists Committee to Stop the War et al.418 U.S. 208Jun 25, 1974 · 418 U.S. 208Judicial power6–36–3 band
- United States et al. v. Richardson418 U.S. 166Jun 25, 1974 · 418 U.S. 166Judicial power5–45–4 band
- Doremus et al. v. Board of Education of the Borough of Hawthorne et al.342 U.S. 429Mar 3, 1952 · 342 U.S. 429Judicial power6–36–3 band
Data notes
Every other orally argued case with a clear vote, from the 1946 term on, that the Supreme Court Database files under the same issue as this one. The database gives each case one issue from a list of about 270 (abortion, search and seizure of vehicles, the death penalty, and so on), whatever law it turned on.
Official record
Read the full opinion on Justia, the argument audio on Oyez and Wikipedia. Case data from the Supreme Court Database, Version 2026 Release 01, through the 2025 term.