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.

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All labels observed (2)

Label	Occurrences
South Dakota v. Dole canonical	3
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 (4)

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

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

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

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

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

National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 → challengedInCase → South Dakota v. Dole ⓘ