Barnhart v. Peabody Coal Co.

Barnhart v. Peabody Coal Co.
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued October 8, 2002 Decided January 15, 2003
Full case name	Jo Anne B. Barnhart, Commissioner of Social Security, Petitioner v. Peabody Coal Company, et al.; Jo Anne B. Barnhart, Commissioner of Social Security, Petitioner v. Bellaire Corporation, et al.; Michael H. Holland, et al., Petitioners v. Bellaire Corporation, et al.
Citations	537 U.S. 149 (more) 123 S. Ct. 748; 154 L. Ed. 2d 653; 2003 U.S. LEXIS 752; 71 U.S.L.W. 4041; 29 Employee Benefits Cas. (BNA) 2089; 2003 Cal. Daily Op. Service 419; 2003 Daily Journal DAR 501; 16 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 35
Case history
Prior	On writs of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Peabody Coal Co. v. Massanari, 14 F. App'x 393, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 14471 (2001). Bellaire Corp. v. Massanari, 14 Fed. Appx. 424, 2001 U.S. App. LEXIS 14784 (2001)
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy David Souter · Clarence Thomas Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Case opinions
Majority	Souter, joined by Rehnquist, Stevens, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer
Dissent	Scalia, joined by O'Connor, Thomas
Dissent	Thomas
Laws applied
The Coal Industry Retiree Health Benefit Act of 1992 (26 U.S.C. § 9706(a))

Barnhart v. Peabody Coal Co., 537 U.S. 149 (2003), was a Supreme Court of the United States case.^[1] The case was to determine if a law instructing a government agent "shall" perform an action by a given date was intended as a 'spur to action' or a limit on whether the agent could act after the date. In this case the court held the agent could still act even after the date.