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Hostetter v. Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corp. - 377 U.S. 324 (1964) U.S. Supreme Court Hostetter v. Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corp., 377 U.S. 324 (1964) Hostetter v. Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corp. No. 116 Argued March 23, 1964 Decided June 1, 1964 377 U.S. 324 APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK Syllabus Appellee, who, under Federal Bureau of Customs supervision, purchases bottled intoxicants at wholesale outside New York, brings them into the State, and, at an airport there, sells them at retail for delivery abroad to international airline travelers, brought this action for an injunction and declaratory judgment against State Liquor Authority members who claimed that appellee's business violated state law. After long procedural delays, a three-judge District Court granted the requested relief. Held: 1. Abstention, which is not automatically required, and which had been requested by neither party, was not warranted in this...
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Epperson v. Arkansas - 393 U.S. 97 (1968) U.S. Supreme Court Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97 (1968) Epperson v. Arkansas No. 7 Argued October 16, 1968 Decided November 12, 1968 393 U.S. 97 APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS Syllabus Appellant Epperson, an Arkansas public school teacher, brought this action for declaratory and injunctive relief challenging the constitutionality of Arkansas' "anti-evolution" statute. That statute makes it unlawful for a teacher in any state supported school or university to teach or to use a textbook that teaches "that mankind ascended or descended from a lower order of animals." The State Chancery Court held the statute an abridgment of free speech violating the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The State Supreme Court, expressing no opinion as to whether the statute prohibits "explanation" of the theory or only teaching that the theory is true, reversed the Chancery Court. In a two-sentence opinion, it sustained the statute as within...
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Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham - 394 U.S. 147 (1969) U.S. Supreme Court Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham, 394 U.S. 147 (1969) Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham No. 42 Argued November 18, 1968 Decided March 10, 1969 394 U.S. 147 CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA Syllabus Petitioner, a Negro minister who helped lead 52 Negroes in an orderly civil rights march in Birmingham, Ala. in 1963, was arrested and convicted for violating 1159 of the city's General Code, an ordinance which proscribes participating in any parade or procession on city streets or public ways without first obtaining a permit from the City Commission. Section 1159 permits the Commission to refuse a parade permit if its members believe "the public welfare, peace, safety, health, decency, good order, morals or convenience require that it be refused." Petitioner had previously been given to understand by a member of the Commission that under no circumstances would petitioner and his group be ...
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Eisenstadt v. Baird - 405 U.S. 438 (1972) U.S. Supreme Court Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438 (1972) Eisenstadt v. Baird No. 70-17 Argued November 17-18, 1971 Decided March 22, 1972 405 U.S. 438 APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT Syllabus Appellee attacks his conviction of violating Massachusetts law for giving a woman a contraceptive foam at the close of his lecture to students on contraception. That law makes it a felony for anyone to give away a drug, medicine, instrument, or article for the prevention of conception except in the case of (1) a registered physician administering or prescribing it for a married person or (2) an active registered pharmacist furnishing it to a married person presenting a registered physician's prescription. The District Court dismissed appellee's petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The Court of Appeals vacated the dismissal, holding that the statute is a prohibition on contraception per se, and conflict...
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Miller v. California - 413 U.S. 15 (1973) U.S. Supreme Court Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973) Miller v. California No. 70-73 Argued January 18-19, 1972 Reargued November 7, 1972 Decided June 21, 1973 413 U.S. 15 APPEAL FROM THE APPELLATE DEPARTMENT, SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF ORANGE Syllabus Appellant was convicted of mailing unsolicited sexually explicit material in violation of a California statute that approximately incorporated the obscenity test formulated in Memoirs v. Massachusetts, 383 U. S. 413 , 383 U. S. 418 (plurality opinion). The trial court instructed the jury to evaluate the materials by the contemporary community standards of California. Appellant's conviction was affirmed on appeal. In lieu of the obscenity criteria enunciated by the Memoirs plurality, it is held: 1. Obscene material is not protected by the First Amendment. Roth v. United States, 354 U. S. 476 , reaffirmed. A work may be subject to state regulation where t...
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Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad - 420 U.S. 546 (1975) U.S. Supreme Court Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad, 420 U.S. 546 (1975) Southeastern Promotions, Ltd. v. Conrad No. 73-1004 Argued October 17, 1974 Decided March 18, 1975 420 U.S. 546 CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT Syllabus Petitioner, a promoter of theatrical productions, applied to respondents, members of a municipal board charged with managing a city auditorium and a city leased theater, to present a musical production at the theater. Upon the basis of outside reports from which it concluded that the production would not be "in the best interest of the community," respondents rejected the application. Petitioner's subsequent motion for a preliminary injunction was denied following a hearing by the District Court, which did not review the merits of respondents' decision but concluded that petitioner had not met the burden of proving irreparable injury. Petitioner ...
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SUSI v. FLOWERS - 423 U.S. 1006 (1975) U.S. Supreme Court SUSI v. FLOWERS , 423 U.S. 1006 (1975) 423 U.S. 1006 Rosenell SUSI and Mae Diana v. Jay FLOWERS, Judge. No. 75-495. Supreme Court of the United States December 1, 1975 On petition for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of Ohio. The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied. Mr. Justice BRENNAN, with whom Mr. Justice MARSHALL concurs, dissenting. Petitioners were arrested on August 31, 1971, and charged with permitting a room to be used for gambling, a misdemeanor, Ohio Rev.Code Ann. 2915.01 (Anderson 1975), and with possession of numbers game tickets, a felony, Ohio Rev.Code Ann. 2915.111 (Anderson 1975). On March 6, 1972, petitioners were tried and convicted of the first charge in the Municipal Court of Franklin County, Ohio. They were subsequently indicted on the felony charge in the Court of Common Pleas of Franklin County, and they filed a motion to Page 423 U.S. 1006 , 1007 dismiss the indictment as v...
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Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc. - 436 U.S. 307 (1978) U.S. Supreme Court Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc., 436 U.S. 307 (1978) Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc. No. 76-1143 Argued January 9, 1978 Decided May 23, 1978 436 U.S. 307 APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF IDAHO Syllabus Appellee brought this action to obtain injunctive relief against a warrantless inspection of its business premises pursuant to 8(a) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA), which empowers agents of the Secretary of Labor to search the work area of any employment facility within OSHA's jurisdiction for safety hazards and violations of OSHA regulations. A three-judge District Court ruled in appellee's favor, concluding, in reliance on Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U. S. 523 , 387 U. S. 528 -529, and See v. Seattle, 387 U. S. 541 , 387 U. S. 543 , that the Fourth Amendment required a warrant for the type of search involved and that the statutory authorization fo...
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Citizens Against Rent Control v. City of Berkeley - 454 U.S. 290 (1981) U.S. Supreme Court Citizens Against Rent Control v. City of Berkeley, 454 U.S. 290 (1981) Citizens Against Rent Control/Coalition for Fair Housing v. City of Berkeley, California No. 80-737 Argued October 14, 1981 Decided December 14, 1981 454 U.S. 290 APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA Syllabus A Berkeley, Cal., ordinance places a limitation of $250 on contributions to committees formed to support or oppose ballot measures submitted to a popular vote. When appellant association, which was formed to oppose a ballot measure imposing rent control in the city, accepted some contributions exceeding the $250 limit, appellee Berkeley Fair Campaign Practices Commission ordered the association to pay the excess into the city treasury. The association then brought suit in California Superior Court seeking injunctive relief against enforcement of the ordinance, and that court subsequently granted summary...
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Bowsher v. Merck & Co., Inc. - 460 U.S. 824 (1983) U.S. Supreme Court Bowsher v. Merck & Co., Inc., 460 U.S. 824 (1983) Bowsher v. Merck & Co., Inc. No. 81-1273 Argued December 1, 1982 Decided April 19, 1983 * 460 U.S. 824 CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT Syllabus Merck & Co. entered into three fixed-price negotiated contracts with the Defense Supply Agency and one such contract with the Veterans' Administration for the sale of pharmaceutical products to those agencies. The prices were based on Merck's catalog prices. As required by statute, each contract contained a standard access-to-records clause granting the Comptroller General the right to examine any "directly pertinent" records involving transactions related to the contract. Relying on these clauses, the Comptroller General, for the stated purpose of reviewing the reasonableness of the contract prices, demanded of Merck access to cost records pertinent to the con...
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