Court : US Supreme Court
District of Columbia v. Heller - 07-290 (2008) SYLLABUS OCTOBER TERM, 2007 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA V. HELLER SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA etal. v . HELLER certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit No. 07290.Argued March 18, 2008Decided June 26, 2008 District of Columbia law bans handgun possession by making it a crime to carry an unregistered firearm and prohibiting the registration of handguns; provides separately that no person may carry an unlicensed handgun, but authorizes the police chief to issue 1-year licenses; and requires residents to keep lawfully owned firearms unloaded and dissembled or bound by a trigger lock or similar device. Respondent Heller, a D.C. special policeman, applied to register a handgun he wished to keep at home, but the District refused. He filed this suit seeking, on Second Amendment grounds, to enjoin the city from enforcing the bar on handgun registration, the licensing requi...
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Boumediene v. Bush - 06-1195 (2008) SYLLABUS OCTOBER TERM, 2007 BOUMEDIENE V. BUSH SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES BOUMEDIENE etal. v . BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, etal. certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit No. 061195.Argued December 5, 2007Decided June 12, 2008* In the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), Congress empowered the President to use all necessary and appropriate force against those he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. In Hamdi v. Rumsfeld , 542 U. S. 507 , 518, 588589, five Justices recognized that detaining individuals captured while fighting against the United States in Afghanistan for the duration of that conflict was a fundamental and accepted incident to war. Thereafter, the Defense Department established Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) to determine whether individuals detained at the U. S. Naval Station at ...
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Crawford v. Marion County Election Bd. - 07-21 (2008) SYLLABUS OCTOBER TERM, 2007 CRAWFORD V. MARION COUNTY ELECTION BD. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES CRAWFORD etal. v . MARION COUNTY ELECTION BOARD etal. certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the seventh circuit No. 0721.Argued January 9, 2008Decided April 28, 2008* After Indiana enacted an election law (SEA 483) requiring citizens voting in person to present government-issued photo identification, petitioners filed separate suits challenging the laws constitutionality. Following discovery, the District Court granted respondents summary judgment, finding the evidence in the record insufficient to support a facial attack on the statutes validity. In affirming, the Seventh Circuit declined to judge the law by the strict standard set for poll taxes in Harper v. Virginia Bd. of Elections , 383 U. S. 663 , finding the burden on voters offset by the benefit of reducing the risk of fraud. Held: The judgm...
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Baze v. Rees - 07-5439 (2008) SYLLABUS OCTOBER TERM, 2007 BAZE V. REES SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES BAZE etal. v . REES, COMMISSIONER, KENTUCKY DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, etal. certiorari to the supreme court of kentucky No. 075439.Argued January 7, 2008Decided April 16, 2008 Lethal injection is used for capital punishment by the Federal Government and 36 States, at least 30 of which (including Kentucky) use the same combination of three drugs:The first, sodium thiopental, induces unconsciousness when given in the specified amounts and thereby ensures that the prisoner does not experience any pain associated with the paralysis and cardiac arrest caused by the second and third drugs, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride. Among other things, Kentuckys lethal injection protocol reserves to qualified personnel having at least one years professional experience the responsibility for inserting the intravenous (IV) catheters into the prisoner, leaving it to others to mi...
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Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc. - 06-179 (2008) SYLLABUS OCTOBER TERM, 2007 RIEGEL V. MEDTRONIC, INC. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES RIEGEL, individually and as administrator ofESTATE OF RIEGEL v . MEDTRONIC, INC. certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the second circuit No. 06179.Argued December 4, 2007Decided February 20, 2008 The Medical Device Amendments of 1976 (MDA) created a scheme of federal safety oversight for medical devices while sweeping back state oversight schemes. The statute provides that a State shall not establish or continue in effect with respect to a device intended for human use any requirement (1) which is different from, or in addition to, any requirement applicable under [federal law] to the device, and (2) which relates to the safety or effectiveness of the device or to any other matter included in a requirement applicable to the device under relevant federal law. 21 U. S.C. 360k(a). The MDA calls for federal oversight of medical devic...
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Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1 - 05-908 (2007) SYLLABUS OCTOBER TERM, 2006 PARENTS INVOLVED IN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS V.SEATTLE SCHOOL DIST. NO. 1 SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES PARENTS INVOLVED IN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS v . SEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1 etal. certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit No. 05908.Argued December 4, 2006Decided June 28, 2007 Respondent school districts voluntarily adopted student assignment plans that rely on race to determine which schools certain children may attend. The Seattle district, which has never operated legally segregated schools or been subject to court-ordered desegregation, classified children as white or nonwhite, and used the racial classifications as a tiebreaker to allocate slots in particular high schools. The Jefferson County, Ky., district was subject to a desegregation decree until 2000, when the District Court dissolved the decree after finding that the district...
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Federal Election Commn v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. - 06-969 (2007) SYLLABUS OCTOBER TERM, 2006 FEDERAL ELECTION COMM'N V. WISCONSIN RIGHT TOLIFE, INC. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION v . WISCONSIN RIGHT TO LIFE, INC. appeal from the united states district court for the district of columbia No. 06969.Argued April 25, 2007Decided June 25, 2007 Section 203 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), makes it a federal crime for a corporation to use its general treasury funds to pay for any electioneering communication, 2 U. S.C. 441b(b)(2), which BCRA defines as any broadcast that refers to a candidate for federal office and is aired within 30 days of a federal primary election or 60 days of a federal general election in the jurisdiction where that candidate is running, 434(f)(3)(A). In McConnell v. Federal Election Commn, 540 U. S. 93 , this Court upheld 203 against a First Amendment facial challenge even though the section en...
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Gonzales v. Carhart - 05-380 (2007) SYLLABUS OCTOBER TERM, 2006 GONZALES V. CARHART SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES GONZALES, ATTORNEY GENERAL v . CARHART etal. certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the eighth circuit No. 05380.Argued November 8, 2006Decided April 18, 2007 Following this Courts Stenberg v. Carhart , 530 U. S. 914 , decision that Nebraskas partial birth abortion statute violated the Federal Constitution, as interpreted in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey , 505 U. S. 833 , and Roe v. Wade , 410 U. S. 113 , Congress passed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 (Act) to proscribe a particular method of ending fetal life in the later stages of pregnancy. The Act does not regulate the most common abortion procedures used in the first trimester of pregnancy, when the vast majority of abortions take place. In the usual second-trimester procedure, dilation and evacuation (D&E;), the doctor dilates the cervix and...
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Carmell v. Texas - 529 U.S. 513 (1999) OCTOBER TERM, 1999 Syllabus CARMELL v. TEXAS CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEALS OF TEXAS, SECOND DISTRICT No. 98-7540. Argued November 30, 1999-Decided May 1,2000 In 1996, petitioner was convicted on 15 counts of committing sexual offenses against his stepdaughter from 1991 to 1995, when she was 12 to 16 years old. Before September 1, 1993, Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann., Art. 38.07, specified that a victim's testimony about a sexual offense could not support a conviction unless corroborated by other evidence or the victim informed another person of the offense within six months of its occurrence, but that, if a victim was under 14 at the time of the offense, the victim's testimony alone could support a conviction. A 1993 amendment allowed the victim's testimony alone to support a conviction if the victim was under 18. The validity of four of petitioner's convictions depends on which version of the law applies to him. Before the Texas Court o...
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Jones v. United States - 526 U.S. 227 (1998) OCTOBER TERM, 1998 Syllabus JONES v. UNITED STATES CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT No. 97-6203. Argued October 5, 1998-Decided March 24,1999 Petitioner was charged with, inter alia, carjacking, in violation of 18 U. S. C. 2119, which at the time provided, as relevant here, that a person possessing a firearm who "takes a motor vehicle ... from the person or presence of another by force and violence or by intimidation ... shall-(l) be ... imprisoned not more than 15 years ... , (2) if serious bodily injury ... results, be ... imprisoned not more than 25 years ... , and (3) if death results, be ... imprisoned for any number of years up to life .... " The indictment made no reference to 2119's numbered subsections and charged none of the facts mentioned in the latter two. Petitioner was told at the arraignment that he faced a maximum 15-year sentence for carjacking, and the jury instructions at ...
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