Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock

Texas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock
Argued November 1, 1988
Decided February 21, 1989
Full case nameTexas Monthly, Inc. v. Bullock, Comptroller of Public Accounts of State of Texas, et al.
Citations489 U.S. 1 (more)
109 S. Ct. 890; 103 L. Ed. 2d 1; 1989 U.S. LEXIS 662
Holding
A state violates the Establishment Clause and the Free Press Clause by exempting religious publications from paying taxes that all nonreligious publications must pay.
Court membership
Chief Justice
William Rehnquist
Associate Justices
William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White
Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun
John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy
Case opinions
PluralityBrennan, joined by Marshall, Stevens
ConcurrenceWhite
ConcurrenceBlackmun, joined by O'Connor
DissentScalia, joined by Rehnquist, Kennedy
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

Texas Monthly v. Bullock, 489 U.S. 1 (1989), was a case brought before the US Supreme Court in November 1988. The case (initiated by the publishers of Texas Monthly, a well-known general-interest magazine in Texas) was to test the legality of a Texas statute that exempted religious publications from paying state sales tax.

The Court, in a 6–3 decision lacking a majority, overturned an appellate court's decision that the exemption was constitutional and remanded the case.