Court : US Supreme Court
Cipollone v. Liggett Group, Inc. - 505 U.S. 504 (1992) OCTOBER TERM, 1991 Syllabus CIPOLLONE, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS EXECUTOR OF THE ESTATE OF CIPOLLONE v. LIGGETT GROUP, INC., ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT No. 90-1038. Argued October 8, 1991-Reargued January 13, 1992Decided June 24, 1992 Section 4 of the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act (1965 Act) required a conspicuous label warning of smoking's health hazards to be placed on every package of cigarettes sold in this country, while 5 of that Act, captioned "Preemption," provided: "(a) No statement relating to smoking and health, other than the [ 4] statement ... , shall be required on any cigarette package," and "(b) No [such] statement ... shall be required in the advertising of any cigarettes the packages of which are labeled in conformity with" 4. Section 5(b) was amended by the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act of 1969 (1969 Act) to specify: "No requirement or...
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Lee v. Weisman - 505 U.S. 577 (1992) OCTOBER TERM, 1991 Syllabus LEE ET AL. v. WEISMAN, PERSONALLY AND AS NEXT FRIEND OF WEISMAN CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT No. 90-1014. Argued November 6, 1991-Decided June 24, 1992 Principals of public middle and high schools in Providence, Rhode Island, are permitted to invite members of the clergy to give invocations and benedictions at their schools' graduation ceremonies. Petitioner Lee, a middle school principal, invited a rabbi to offer such prayers at the graduation ceremony for Deborah Weisman's class, gave the rabbi a pamphlet containing guidelines for the composition of public prayers at civic ceremonies, and advised him that the prayers should be nonsectarian. Shortly before the ceremony, the District Court denied the motion of respondent Weisman, Deborah's father, for a temporary restraining order to prohibit school officials from including the prayers in the ceremony. Deborah and her fam...
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International Soc. for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Lee - 505 U.S. 672 (1992) OCTOBER TERM, 1991 Syllabus INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS, INC., ET AL. v. LEE, SUPERINTENDENT OF PORT AUTHORITY POLICE CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT No. 91-155. Argued March 25, 1992-Decided June 26,1992 The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns and operates three major airports in the New York City area and controls certain terminal areas at the airports (hereinafter terminals), adopted a regulation forbidding, inter alia, the repetitive solicitation of money within the terminals. However, solicitation is permitted on the sidewalks outside the terminal buildings. Petitioner International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. (ISKCON), a not-for-profit religious corporation whose members, among other things, solicit funds in public places to support their movement, brought suit seeking declaratory and injunctive relief...
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Rufo v. Inmates of Suffolk County Jail - 502 U.S. 367 (1992) OCTOBER TERM, 1991 Syllabus RUFO, SHERIFF OF SUFFOLK COUNTY, ET AL. v. INMATES OF SUFFOLK COUNTY JAIL ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT No. 90-954. Argued October 9, 1991-Decided January 15, 1992* Years after the District Court held that conditions at the Suffolk County, Massachusetts, jail were constitutionally deficient, petitioner officials and respondent inmates entered into a consent decree providing for construction of a new jail that, among other things, would provide single occupancy cells for pretrial detainees. Work on the jail was delayed and, in the interim, the inmate population outpaced projections. While construction was still underway, petitioner sheriff moved to modify the decree to allow double bunking in a certain number of cells, thereby raising the jail's capacity. Relying on Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)-which provides, inter alia, that "upon...
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Freytag v. Commissioner - 501 U.S. 868 (1991) U.S. Supreme Court Freytag v. Commissioner, 501 U.S. 868 (1991) Freytag v. Commissioner No. 90-762 Argued April 23, 1991 Decided June 27, 1991 501 U.S. 868 CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT Syllabus The Chief Judge of the United States Tax Court, an Article I court composed of 19 judges appointed by the President, is authorized to appoint special trial judges, 26 U.S.C. 7443A(a), and to assign to them certain specified proceedings, 7443A(b)(1), (2), and (3), and "any other proceeding which the chief judge may designate," 7443A(b)(4). As to subsection (b)(4) proceedings, the special trial judge may hear the case and prepare proposed findings and an opinion, but the actual decision is rendered by a Tax Court judge, 7443A(c). When petitioners sought review in the Tax Court of determinations of approximately $1.5 billion in federal income tax deficiencies, their cases were assigned to a Tax C...
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Pac. Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Haslip - 499 U.S. 1 (1991) U.S. Supreme Court Pac. Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Haslip, 499 U.S. 1 (1991) Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company v. Haslip No. 89-1279 Argued Oct. 3, 1990 Decided March 4, 1991 No. 89-1279 499 U.S. 1 CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA Syllabus After respondents' health insurance lapsed when one Ruffin, an agent for petitioner insurance company and another, unaffiliated insurance company, misappropriated premiums issued by respondents' employer for payment to the other insurer, respondents filed an action for damages in state court, claiming fraud by Ruffin and seeking to hold petitioner liable on a respondeat superior theory. Following the trial court's charge instructing the jury that it could award punitive damages if, inter alia, it determined there was liability for fraud, the jury, among other things, returned a verdict for respondent Haslip of over $1 million against petitioner and Ruffin, which sum includ...
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Rutan v. Republican Party - 497 U.S. 62 (1990) U.S. Supreme Court Rutan v. Republican Party, 497 U.S. 62 (1990) Rutan v. Republican Party of Illinois Nos. 88-1872, 88-2074 Argued Jan. 16, 1990 Decided June 21, 1990 497 U.S. 62 CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT Syllabus The Illinois Governor issued an executive order instituting a hiring freeze, whereby state officials are prohibited from hiring any employee, filling any vacancy, creating any new position, or taking any similar action without the Governor's "express permission." Petitioners and cross-respondents -- an applicant for employment, employees who had been denied promotions or transfers, and former employees who had not been recalled after layoffs -- brought suit in the District Court, alleging that, by means of the freeze, the Governor was operating a political patronage system; that they had suffered discrimination in state employment because they had not been Republican Par...
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Board of Educ. v. Mergens - 496 U.S. 226 (1990) U.S. Supreme Court Board of Educ. v. Mergens, 496 U.S. 226 (1990) Board of Education of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens By and Through Mergens No. 88-1597 Argued Jan. 9, 1990 Decided June 4, 1990 496 U.S. 226 CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT Syllabus Westside High School, a public secondary school that receives federal financial assistance, permits its students to join, on a voluntary basis, a number of recognized groups and clubs, all of which meet after school hours on school premises. Citing the Establishment Clause and a School Board policy requiring clubs to have faculty sponsorship, petitioner school officials denied the request of respondent Mergens for permission to form a Christian club that would have the same privileges and meet on the same terms and conditions as other Westside student groups, except that it would have no faculty sponsor. After the Board voted to uphold...
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Missouri v. Jenkins - 495 U.S. 33 (1990) U.S. Supreme Court Missouri v. Jenkins, 495 U.S. 33 (1990) Missouri v. Jenkins No. 88-1150 Argued Oct. 30, 1989 Decided April 18, 1990 495 U.S. 33 CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT Syllabus In an action under 42 U.S.C. 1983, the District Court found that the Kansas City, Missouri, School District (KCMSD) and petitioner State had operated a segregated school system within the KCMSD. The court issued an order detailing a desegregation remedy and the financing necessary to implement it. Although it allocated the costs of the remedy between the governmental entities, the court determined that several state law provisions would prevent KCMSD from being able to pay its share. Rather than exercising what it believed to be its power to order a tax increase to fund the remedy, the court chose to impose other means -- including enjoining the effect of one of the state law provisions -- to allow KCMSD to r...
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FTC v. Superior Ct. TLA - 493 U.S. 411 (1990) U.S. Supreme Court FTC v. Superior Ct. TLA, 493 U.S. 411 (1990) Federal Trade Commission v. Superior Court Trial Lawyers Association Nos. 88-1198, 88-1393 Argued Oct. 30, 1989 Decided Jan. 22, 1990 493 U.S. 411 CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT Syllabus A group of lawyers in private practice who regularly acted as court-appointed counsel for indigent defendants in District of Columbia criminal cases agreed at a meeting of the Superior Court Trial Lawyers Association (SCTLA) to stop providing such representation until the District increased group members' compensation. The boycott had a severe impact on the District's criminal justice system, and the District government capitulated to the lawyers' demands. After the lawyers returned to work, petitioner Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint against SCTLA and four of its officers (respondents), alleging that they had e...
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