Court : US Supreme Court
Capitol Square Review and Advisory Bd. v. Pinette - 515 U.S. 753 (1995) OCTOBER TERM, 1994 Syllabus CAPITOL SQUARE REVIEW AND ADVISORY BOARD ET AL. v. PINETTE ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT No. 94-780. Argued April 26, 1995-Decided June 29, 1995 Ohio law makes Capitol Square, the statehouse plaza in Columbus, a forum for discussion of public questions and for public activities, and gives petitioner Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board (Board) responsibility for regulating access to the square. To use the square, a group must simply fill out an official application form and meet several speechneutral criteria. Mter the Board denied, on Establishment Clause grounds, the application of respondent Ku Klux Klan to place an unattended cross on the square during the 1993 Christmas season, the Klan filed this suit. The District Court entered an injunction requiring issuance of the requested permit, and the Board permitted the Klan to ...
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Mitchell v. Helms - 530 U.S. 793 (2000) OCTOBER TERM, 1999 Syllabus MITCHELL ET AL. v. HELMS ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT No. 98-1648. Argued December 1, 1999-Decided June 28, 2000 Chapter 2 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981 channels federal funds via state educational agencies (SEA's) to local educational agencies (LEA's), which in turn lend educational materials and equipment, such as library and media materials and computer software and hardware, to public and private elementary and secondary schools to implement "secular, neutral, and nonideological" programs. The enrollment of each participating school determines the amount of Chapter 2 aid that it receives. In an average year, about 30% of Chapter 2 funds spent in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, are allocated for private schools, most of which are Catholic or otherwise religiously affiliated. Respondents filed suit alleging, among other things, that C...
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Tennessee v. Lane - 02-1667 (2004) SYLLABUS OCTOBER TERM, 2003 TENNESSEE V. LANE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES TENNESSEE v. LANE et al. certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the sixth circuit No. 021667. Argued January 13, 2004Decided May 17, 2004 Respondent paraplegics filed this action for damages and equitable relief, alleging that Tennessee and a number of its counties had denied them physical access to that States courts in violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which provides: [N]o qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from participation or denied the benefits of the services, programs or activities of a public entity, 42 U. S. C. 12132. After the District Court denied the States motion to dismiss on Eleventh Amendment immunity grounds, the Sixth Circuit held the appeal in abeyance pending Board of Trustees of Univ. of Ala. v. Garrett, 531 U. S. 356 . This Co...
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United States v. Booker - 04-104 (2005) SYLLABUS OCTOBER TERM, 2004 UNITED STATES V. BOOKER SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES UNITED STATES v. BOOKER certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the seventh circuit No. 04104.Argued October 4, 2004Decided January 12, 2005 Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the sentence authorized by the jury verdict in respondent Bookers drug case was 210-to-262 months in prison. At the sentencing hearing, the judge found additional facts by a preponderance of the evidence. Because these findings mandated a sentence between 360 months and life, the judge gave Booker a 30-year sentence instead of the 21-year, 10-month, sentence he could have imposed based on the facts proved to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt. The Seventh Circuit held that this application of the Guidelines conflicted with the Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U. S. 466 , 490, holding that [o]ther than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases th...
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Massachusetts v. EPA - 05-1120 (2007) SYLLABUS OCTOBER TERM, 2006 MASSACHUSETTS V. EPA SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES MASSACHUSETTS etal. v . ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY etal. certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit No. 051120.Argued November 29, 2006Decided April 2, 2007 Based on respected scientific opinion that a well-documented rise in global temperatures and attendant climatological and environmental changes have resulted from a significant increase in the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases, a group of private organizations petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to begin regulating the emissions of four such gases, including carbon dioxide, under 202(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act, which requires that the EPA shall by regulation prescribe standards applicable to the emission of any air pollutant from any class of new motor vehicles which in [the EPA Administrators] judgment cause[s], or contri...
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NASA v. Nelson - 09-530 (2011) SYLLABUS OCTOBER TERM, 2010 NASA V. NELSON SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION etal. v . NELSON etal. certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit No. 09530.Argued October 5, 2010Decided January 19, 2011 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has a workforce of both federal civil servants and Government contract employees. Respondents are contract employees at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is operated by the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech). Respondents were not subject to Government background checks at the time they were hired, but that changed when the President ordered the adoption of uniform identification standards for both federal civil servants and contractor employees. The Department of Commerce mandated that contract employees with long-term access to federal facilities complete a standard background check, typically th...
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Arlington v. Fed. Commc'n Comm'n NOTE:Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U.S. 321. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES Syllabus CITY OF ARLINGTON, TEXAS, etal. v. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION etal. certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the fifth circuit No. 111545.Argued January 16, 2013Decided May 20, 2013[ 1 ] The Communications Act of 1934, as amended, requires state or local governments to act on siting applications for wireless facilities within a reasonable period of time after the request is duly filed. 47 U.S.C. 332(c)(7)(B)(ii). Relying on its broad authority to implement the Communications Act, see 47 U.S.C. 201(b), the Federal Communicati...
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Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr - 518 U.S. 470 (1996) OCTOBER TERM, 1995 Syllabus MEDTRONIC, INC. v. LOHR ET VIR CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT No. 95-754. Argued April 23, 1996-Decided June 26,1996* Enacted "to provide for the safety and effectiveness of medical devices intended for human use," the Medical Device Amendments of 1976 (MDA or Act) classifies such devices based on the risk that they pose to the public. Class III devices pose the greatest risk and, thus, are subject to a rigorous premarket approval (PMA) process. However, most Class III devices on the market have not been through the PMA process due to two statutory exceptions. Realizing that existing devices could not be withdrawn from the market while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) completed PMA analyses, Congress included a provision allowing pre-1976 devices to remain on the market without FDA approval until the requisite PMA is completed. The Act also permits devices...
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United States v. Scheffer - 523 U.S. 303 (1998) OCTOBER TERM, 1997 Syllabus UNITED STATES v. SCHEFFER CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ARMED FORCES No. 96-1133. Argued November 3, 1997-Decided March 31, 1998 A polygraph examination of respondent airman indicated, in the opinion of the Air Force examiner administering the test, that there was "no deception" in respondent's denial that he had used drugs since enlisting. Urinalysis, however, revealed the presence of methamphetamine, and respondent was tried by general court-martial for using that drug and for other offenses. In denying his motion to introduce the polygraph evidence to support his testimony that he did not knowingly use drugs, the military judge relied on Military Rule of Evidence 707, which makes polygraph evidence inadmissible in court-martial proceedings. Respondent was convicted on all counts, and the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed. The Court of Appeals for the Armed Force...
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Baker v. Carr - 369 U.S. 186 (1962) U.S. Supreme Court Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186 (1962) Baker v. Carr No. 6 Argued April 19-20, 1961 Set for reargument May 1, 1961 Reargued October 9, 1961 Decided March 26, 1962 369 U.S. 186 APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE Syllabus Appellants are persons allegedly qualified to vote for members of the General Assembly of Tennessee representing the counties in which they reside. They brought suit in a Federal District Court in Tennessee under 42 U.S.C. 1983 and 1988, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, to redress the alleged deprivation of their federal constitutional rights by legislation classifying voters with respect to representation in the General Assembly. They alleged that, by means of a 1901 statute of Tennessee arbitrarily and capriciously apportioning the seats in the General Assembly among the State's 95 counties, and a failure to reapportion them subsequent...
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