South Dakota v. Dole

E18538

United States Supreme Court case federal courts case landmark case

South Dakota v. Dole is a 1987 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld Congress’s power to condition federal highway funds on states adopting a minimum drinking age of 21, helping define the scope of the federal spending power.

Aliases (1)

South Dakota v. Dole (1987) ×1

Statements (50)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	United States Supreme Court case → federal courts case → landmark case →
appliesConstitutionalProvision	Taxing and Spending Clause → surface form: "Spending Clause of Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution" Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution → surface form: "Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution" Twenty-First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution →
areaOfLaw	administrative law → constitutional law → federalism →
arguedDate	1987-04-28 →
chiefJusticeAtDecision	William H. Rehnquist →
citation	107 S. Ct. 2793 → 483 U.S. 203 → 97 L. Ed. 2d 171 →
concurrenceBy	William J. Brennan Jr. →
country	United States of America → surface form: "United States"
decidedBy	Supreme Court of the United States →
decisionDate	1987-06-23 →
dissentBy	Sandra Day O’Connor →
docketNumber	86-260 →
establishesTest	limits on Congress’s use of the spending power to encourage state action →
hasJurisdiction	United States federal law →
holding	Congress may attach conditions on the receipt of federal funds to further broad policy objectives → Congress’s conditioning of a portion of federal highway funds on adoption of a minimum drinking age of 21 is constitutional → The financial inducement offered by Congress was not so coercive as to pass the point at which pressure turns into compulsion →
joinedMajority	Antonin Scalia → Byron R. White → Harry A. Blackmun → Lewis F. Powell Jr. → Sandra Day O’Connor → Thurgood Marshall →
languageOfProceeding	English →
legalIssue	Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution → surface form: "Tenth Amendment federalism" Twenty-First Amendment and alcohol regulation → conditional federal grants to states → scope of the federal spending power →
majorityOpinionBy	William H. Rehnquist →
petitioner	South Dakota → surface form: "State of South Dakota"
principle	conditions on federal grants must be in pursuit of the general welfare → conditions on federal grants must be related to the federal interest in particular national projects or programs → conditions on federal grants must be unambiguous → conditions on federal grants must not violate other constitutional provisions → financial inducement may not be so coercive as to compel state compliance →
relatedStatute	National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 →
respondent	Elizabeth Dole → surface form: "Elizabeth H. Dole, Secretary of Transportation" United States Department of Transportation →
subjectMatter	federal highway funds → minimum legal drinking age →
vote	7-2 →
yearDecided	1987 →

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

General Welfare Clause doctrine → clarifiedIn → South Dakota v. Dole →

this entity surface form: "South Dakota v. Dole (1987)"

General Welfare Clause doctrine → significantCase → South Dakota v. Dole →

Taxing and Spending Clause → significantCase → South Dakota v. Dole →