Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
E403302
Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978), is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that established when local governments can be sued as “persons” for constitutional violations under federal civil rights law.
All labels observed (3)
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3981296 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978) Context triple: [42 U.S.C. § 1983, interpretedBy, Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978)]
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A.
Frontiero v. Richardson
Frontiero v. Richardson is a landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that advanced gender equality by striking down federal benefit rules that discriminated against female military service members.
-
B.
McDonald v. Smith
McDonald v. Smith is a 1985 U.S. Supreme Court case that held the First Amendment’s Petition Clause does not grant absolute immunity from libel suits for statements made in petitions to government officials.
-
C.
South Dakota v. Dole
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.
-
D.
Katzenbach v. Morgan
Katzenbach v. Morgan is a 1966 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld Congress’s power under the Fourteenth Amendment to prohibit certain state voting restrictions, reinforcing federal authority to protect voting rights.
-
E.
National League of Cities v. Usery
National League of Cities v. Usery was a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court case that temporarily limited Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause by holding that federal wage and hour regulations could not be applied to traditional state government functions.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978) Target entity description: Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978), is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that established when local governments can be sued as “persons” for constitutional violations under federal civil rights law.
-
A.
Frontiero v. Richardson
Frontiero v. Richardson is a landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that advanced gender equality by striking down federal benefit rules that discriminated against female military service members.
-
B.
McDonald v. Smith
McDonald v. Smith is a 1985 U.S. Supreme Court case that held the First Amendment’s Petition Clause does not grant absolute immunity from libel suits for statements made in petitions to government officials.
-
C.
South Dakota v. Dole
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.
-
D.
Katzenbach v. Morgan
Katzenbach v. Morgan is a 1966 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld Congress’s power under the Fourteenth Amendment to prohibit certain state voting restrictions, reinforcing federal authority to protect voting rights.
-
E.
National League of Cities v. Usery
National League of Cities v. Usery was a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court case that temporarily limited Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause by holding that federal wage and hour regulations could not be applied to traditional state government functions.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
U.S. Supreme Court decision
ⓘ
landmark civil rights case ⓘ |
| category |
United States Supreme Court cases on equal protection
ⓘ
United States Supreme Court cases on municipal liability ⓘ United States civil rights case law ⓘ |
| citation | 436 U.S. 658 ⓘ |
| concurrenceBy |
Lewis F. Powell Jr.
ⓘ
surface form:
Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
Thurgood Marshall ⓘ
surface form:
Justice Thurgood Marshall
|
| constitutionalProvisionInvolved |
Due Process Clause
ⓘ
Equal Protection Clause ⓘ Fourteenth Amendment ⓘ |
| court | Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ |
| decisionDate | 1978-06-06 ⓘ |
| dissentBy |
Warren E. Burger
ⓘ
surface form:
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger
William H. Rehnquist ⓘ
surface form:
Justice William H. Rehnquist
|
| docketNumber | No. 75-1914 ⓘ |
| factualBackground | New York City agencies required pregnant employees to take unpaid leaves of absence before such leaves were medically necessary ⓘ |
| fullCaseName |
Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
Monell et al. v. Department of Social Services of the City of New York et al.
|
| geographicalScope |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| holding |
local governments are "persons" subject to suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983
ⓘ
local governments are not liable under § 1983 on a respondeat superior theory ⓘ local governments may be sued for constitutional violations caused by official policy or custom ⓘ |
| impact |
became a foundational precedent in civil rights litigation against cities and counties
ⓘ
established the doctrine of municipal liability under § 1983 ⓘ limited municipal liability by rejecting respondeat superior for § 1983 claims ⓘ |
| joinedByInMajority |
Byron R. White
ⓘ
surface form:
Justice Byron R. White
Harry A. Blackmun ⓘ
surface form:
Justice Harry A. Blackmun
John Paul Stevens ⓘ
surface form:
Justice John Paul Stevens
Lewis F. Powell Jr. ⓘ
surface form:
Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
Potter Stewart ⓘ
surface form:
Justice Potter Stewart
Thurgood Marshall ⓘ
surface form:
Justice Thurgood Marshall
|
| jurisdiction | federal question jurisdiction ⓘ |
| jurisdictionLevel | federal ⓘ |
| legalIssue |
interpretation of the term "person" in 42 U.S.C. § 1983
ⓘ
liability of local governments under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ⓘ |
| majorityOpinionBy |
William J. Brennan Jr.
ⓘ
surface form:
Justice William J. Brennan, Jr.
|
| originatingJurisdiction | United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ⓘ |
| overruledPrecedent |
Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961)
ⓘ
surface form:
Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961), in part
|
| petitioner |
Carmen Monell
ⓘ
other female employees of the City of New York ⓘ |
| respondent |
Board of Education of the City of New York
ⓘ
New York City Department of Social Services ⓘ
surface form:
Department of Social Services of the City of New York
|
| ruleOfLaw |
a single decision by a municipal policymaker may constitute official policy in some circumstances (as later elaborated in subsequent cases)
ⓘ
municipal liability under § 1983 attaches when execution of a government policy or custom inflicts the injury ⓘ |
| statuteInterpreted | 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ⓘ |
| subjectMatter |
constitutional torts by local governments
ⓘ
employment policies affecting pregnant employees ⓘ |
| subsequentCitation | frequently cited in § 1983 municipal liability cases ⓘ |
| term | October Term 1977 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978) Description of subject: Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978), is a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that established when local governments can be sued as “persons” for constitutional violations under federal civil rights law.
Referenced by (5)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961)
→
laterOverruledInPartBy
→
Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
ⓘ
Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167 (1961)
→
relatedCase
→
Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
ⓘ
Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
→
fullCaseName
→
Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
this entity surface form:
Monell et al. v. Department of Social Services of the City of New York et al.
City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378 (1989)
→
clarifies
→
Monell v. Department of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
ⓘ
subject surface form:
City of Canton v. Harris
this entity surface form:
Monell v. Department of Social Services