Court : US Supreme Court
Reno v. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Comm. - 525 U.S. 471 (1998) OCTOBER TERM, 1998 Syllabus RENO, ATTORNEY GENERAL, ET AL. v. AMERICANARAB ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT No. 97-1252. Argued November 4, 1998-Decided February 24,1999 Respondent resident aliens filed this suit, claiming that petitioners, the Attorney General and other federal parties, targeted them for deportation because of their affiliation with a politically unpopular group, in violation of their First and Fifth Amendment rights. Mter the District Court preliminarily enjoined the proceedings against respondents, but while an appeal by the Attorney General was pending, Congress passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), which, inter alia, repealed the old judicial-review scheme in the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U. S. C. n05a, and instituted a new provision, 8 U. S. C. 1252...
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Chicago v. Morales - 527 U.S. 41 (1999) OCTOBER TERM, 1998 Syllabus CITY OF CHICAGO v. MORALES ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF ILLINOIS No.97-1121. Argued December 9, 1998-Decided June 10, 1999 Chicago's Gang Congregation Ordinance prohibits "criminal street gang members" from loitering in public places. Under the ordinance, if a police officer observes a person whom he reasonably believes to be a gang member loitering in a public place with one or more persons, he shall order them to disperse. Anyone who does not promptly obey such an order has violated the ordinance. The police department's General Order 92-4 purports to limit officers' enforcement discretion by confining arrest authority to designated officers, establishing detailed criteria for defining street gangs and membership therein, and providing for designated, but publicly undisclosed, enforcement areas. Two trial judges upheld the ordinance's constitutionality, but 11 others ruled it invalid. The Illino...
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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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Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams - 532 U.S. 105 (2001) OCTOBER TERM, 2000 Syllabus CIRCUIT CITY STORES, INC. v. ADAMS CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT No. 99-1379. Argued November 6, 2000-Decided March 21, 2001 A provision in respondent's application for work at petitioner electronics retailer required all employment disputes to be settled by arbitration. Mter he was hired, respondent filed a state-law employment discrimination action against petitioner, which then sued in federal court to enjoin the state-court action and to compel arbitration pursuant to the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). The District Court entered the requested order. The Ninth Circuit reversed, interpreting 1 of the FAA-which excludes from that Act's coverage "contracts of employment of seamen, railroad employees, or any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce" -to exempt all employment contracts from the FAA's reach. Held: The 1 exemptio...
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Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Reilly - 533 U.S. 525 (2001) OCTOBER TERM, 2000 Syllabus LORILLARD TOBACCO CO. ET AL. v. REILLY, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MASSACHUSETTS, ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT No. 00-596. Argued April 25, 200l-Decided June 28, 2001* Mter the Attorney General of Massachusetts (Attorney General) promulgated comprehensive regulations governing the advertising and sale of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and cigars, petitioners, a group of tobacco manufacturers and retailers, filed this suit asserting, among other things, the Supremacy Clause claim that the cigarette advertising regulations are pre-empted by the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act (FCLAA), which prescribes mandatory health warnings for cigarette packaging and advertising, 15 U. S. C. 1333, and pre-empts similar state regulations, 1334(b); and a claim that the regulations violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Federal Constitution. In...
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Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition - 535 U.S. 234 (2002) OCTOBER TERM, 2001 Syllabus ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL, ET AL. v. FREE SPEECH COALITION ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT No. 00-795. Argued October 30, 200l-Decided April 16, 2002 The Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 (CPPA) expands the federal prohibition on child pornography to include not only pornographic images made using actual children, 18 U. S. C. 2256(8)(A), but also "any visual depiction, including any photograph, film, video, picture, or computer or computer-generated image or picture," that "is, or appears to be, of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct," 2256(8)(B), and any sexually explicit image that is "advertised, promoted, presented, described, or distributed in such a manner that conveys the impression" it depicts "a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct," 2256(8)(D). Thus, 2256(8)(B) bans a range of sexually explicit images, sometime...
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McConnell v. Federal Election Comm'n - 02-1674 (2003) SYLLABUS OCTOBER TERM, 2003 MCCONNELL V. FEDERAL ELECTION COMM'N SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES McCONNELL, UNITED STATES SENATOR, et al. v. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION et al. appeal from the united states district court for the district of columbia No. 021674. Argued September 8, 2003Decided December 10, 2003 The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), which amended the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA), the Communications Act of 1934, and other portions of the United States Code, is the most recent of nearly a century of federal enactments designed to purge national politics of what [is] conceived to be the pernicious influence of big money campaign contributions. United States v. Automobile Workers, 352 U. S. 567 , 572. In enacting BCRA, Congress sought to address three important developments in the years since this Courts landmark decision in Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U. S. 1 (per curiam): ...
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Vieth v. Jubelirer - 02-1580 (2004) SYLLABUS OCTOBER TERM, 2003 VIETH V. JUBELIRER SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES VIETH et al. v. JUBELIRER, PRESIDENT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA SENATE, et al. appeal from united states district court for the middle district of pennsylvania No. 021580. Argued December 10, 2003Decided April 28, 2004 After Pennsylvanias General Assembly adopted a congressional redistricting plan, plaintiffs-appellants sued to enjoin the plans implementation, alleging, inter alia, that it constituted a political gerrymander in violation of Article I and the Fourteenth Amendments Equal Protection Clause. The three-judge District Court dismissed the gerrymandering claim, and the plaintiffs appealed. Held: The judgment is affirmed. 241 F.Supp. 2d 478, affirmed. Justice Scalia, joined by The Chief Justice, Justice OConnor, and Justice Thomas, concluded that political gerrymandering claims are nonjusticiable because no judicially discernible and manageable standar...
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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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Hibbs v. Winn - 02-1809 (2004) SYLLABUS OCTOBER TERM, 2003 HIBBS V. WINN SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES HIBBS, DIRECTOR, ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE v. WINN et al. certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit No. 021809. Argued January 20, 2004Decided June 14, 2004 Plaintiffs-respondents, Arizona taxpayers, filed suit in federal court against the Director of Arizonas Department of Revenue (Director) seeking to enjoin the operation of Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. 431089 on Establishment Clause grounds. Arizonas law authorizes an income-tax credit for payments to nonprofit school tuition organizations (STOs) that award scholarships to students in private elementary or secondary schools. Section 431089 provides that STOs may not designate schools that discriminate on the basis of race, color, handicap, familial status or national origin, 431089(F), but does not preclude STOs from designating schools that provide religious instruction or give religion-ba...
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