Court : US Supreme Court
United States v. Bajakajian - 524 U.S. 321 (1997) OCTOBER TERM, 1997 Syllabus UNITED STATES v. BAJAKAJIAN CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT No. 96-1487. Argued November 4, 1997-Decided June 22,1998 Mter customs inspectors found respondent and his family preparing to board an international flight carrying $357,144, he was charged with, inter alia, attempting to leave the United States without reporting, as required by 31 U. S. C. 5316(a)(I)(A), that he was transporting more than $10,000 in currency. The Government also sought forfeiture of the $357,144 under 18 U. S. C. 982(a)(I), which provides that a person convicted of willfully violating 5316 shall forfeit "any property ... involved in such an offense." Respondent pleaded guilty to the failure to report and elected to have a bench trial on the forfeiture. The District Court found, among other things, that the entire $357,144 was subject to forfeiture because it was "involved in" the...
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Chandler v. Miller - 520 U.S. 305 (1997) OCTOBER TERM, 1996 Syllabus CHANDLER ET AL. v. MILLER, GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA, ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT No. 96-126. Argued January 14, 1997-Decided April 15, 1997 A Georgia statute requires candidates for designated state offices to certify that they have taken a urinalysis drug test within 30 days prior to qualifying for nomination or election and that the test result was negative. Petitioners, Libertarian Party nominees for state offices subject to the statute's requirements, filed this action in the District Court about one month before the deadline for submission of the certificates. Naming as defendants the Governor and two officials involved in the statute's administration, petitioners asserted, inter alia, that the drug tests violated their rights under the First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The District Court denied petitioners' motio...
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Bousley v. United States - 523 U.S. 614 (1998) OCTOBER TERM, 1997 Syllabus BOUSLEY v. UNITED STATES CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT No. 96-8516. Argued March 3, 1998-Decided May 18, 1998 Petitioner pleaded guilty to drug possession with intent to distribute, 21 U. S. C. 841(a)(1), and to "using" a firearm "during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime," 18 U. S. C. 924(c)(1), but reserved the right to challenge the quantity of drugs used in calculating his sentence. He appealed his sentence, but did not challenge the plea's validity. The Eighth Circuit affirmed. Subsequently, he sought habeas relief, claiming his guilty plea lacked a factual basis because neither the "evidence" nor the "plea allocation" showed a connection between the firearms in the bedroom of the house and the garage where the drug trafficking occurred. The District Court dismissed the petition on the ground that a factual basis for the plea existed because the ...
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Rogers v. United States - 522 U.S. 252 (1998) OCTOBER TERM, 1997 Syllabus ROGERS v. UNITED STATES CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT No. 96-1279. Argued November 5, 1997-Decided January 14, 1998 Petitioner was charged with the knowing possession of an unregistered and unserialized firearm in violation of 26 U. S. C. 5861(d) and (i) as a result of the discovery of a silencer in his truck. A silencer is included within the meaning of "firearm" under 5845(a)(7). Petitioner repeatedly admitted during his arrest and trial that he knew that the item found in his truck was in fact a silencer. The District Court denied petitioner's request for an instruction that defined the Government's burden of establishing "knowing possession" as proof that he had willfully and consciously possessed an item he knew to be a "firearm." Petitioner was convicted. Under Staples v. United States, 511 U. S. 600 , decided after this case was submitted to the j...
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Nixon v. Shrink Missouri Government PAC - 528 U.S. 377 (2000) OCTOBER TERM, 1999 Syllabus NIXON, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MISSOURI, ET AL. v. SHRINK MISSOURI GOVERNMENT PAC ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT No. 98-963. Argued October 5, 1999-Decided January 24, 2000 Respondents Shrink Missouri Government PAC, a political action committee, and Zev David Fredman, a candidate for the 1998 Republican nomination for Missouri state auditor, filed suit, alleging that a Missouri statute imposing limits ranging from $275 to $1,075 on contributions to candidates for state office violated their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Shrink Missouri gave Fredman $1,025 in 1997, and $50 in 1998, and represented that, without the statutory limitation, it would contribute more. Fredman alleged he could campaign effectively only with more generous contributions than the statute allowed. On crossmotions for summary judgment, the District Court sustained ...
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McKune v. Lile - 536 U.S. 24 (2001) OCTOBER TERM, 2001 Syllabus McKUNE, WARDEN, ET AL. v. LILE CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT No. 00-1187. Argued November 28, 2001-Decided June 10,2002 Respondent was convicted of rape and related crimes. A few years before his scheduled release, Kansas prison officials ordered respondent to participate in a Sexual Abuse Treatment Program (SATP). As part of the program, participating inmates are required to complete and sign an "Admission of Responsibility" form, in which they accept responsibility for the crimes for which they have been sentenced, and complete a sexual history form detailing all prior sexual activities, regardless of whether the activities constitute uncharged criminal offenses. The information obtained from SATP participants is not privileged, and might be used against them in future criminal proceedings. There is no evidence, however, that incriminating information has ever been disclo...
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New York Times Co. v. Tasini - 533 U.S. 483 (2001) OCTOBER TERM, 2000 Syllabus NEW YORK TIMES CO., INC., ET AL. v. TASINI ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT No.00-201. Argued March 28, 200l-Decided June 25, 2001 Respondent freelance authors (Authors) wrote articles (Articles) for newspapers and a magazine published by petitioners New York Times Company (Times), Newsday, Inc. (Newsday), and Time, Inc. (Time). The Times, Newsday, and Time (Print Publishers) engaged the Authors as independent contractors under contracts that in no instance secured an Author's consent to placement of an Article in an electronic database. The Print Publishers each licensed rights to copy and sell articles to petitioner LEXIS/NEXIS, owner and operator of NEXIS. NEXIS is a computerized database containing articles in text-only format from hundreds of periodicals spanning many years. Subscribers access NEXIS through a computer, may search for articles using ...
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Harris v. United States - 536 U.S. 545 (2002) OCTOBER TERM, 2001 Syllabus HARRIS v. UNITED STATES CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 00-10666. Argued March 25, 2002-Decided June 24, 2002 Petitioner, who sold illegal narcotics at his pawnshop with an unconcealed semiautomatic pistol at his side, was arrested for violating, inter alia, 18 U. S. C. 924(c)(I)(A), which provides in relevant part that a person who in relation to a drug trafficking crime uses or carries a firearm "shall, in addition to the punishment provided for such crime," "(i) be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 5 years; (ii) if the firearm is brandished, be sentenced to ... not less than 7 years; and (iii) if the firearm is discharged, be sentenced to ... not less than 10 years." Because the Government proceeded on the assumption that the provision defines a single crime and that brandishing is a sentencing factor to be found by the judge following ...
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Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co. - 535 U.S. 722 (2002) OCTOBER TERM, 2001 Syllabus FESTO CORP. v. SHOKETSU KINZOKU KOGYO KABUSHIKI CO., LTD., ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT No. 00-1543. Argued January 8, 2002-Decided May 28, 2002 Petitioner Festo Corporation owns two patents for an industrial device. When the patent examiner rejected the initial application for the first patent because of defects in description, 35 U. S. C. 112, the application was amended to add the new limitations that the device would contain a pair of one-way sealing rings and that its outer sleeve would be made of a magnetizable material. The second patent was also amended during a reexamination proceeding to add the sealing rings limitation. Mter Festo began selling its device, respondents (hereinafter SMC) entered the market with a similar device that uses one two-way sealing ring and a nonmagnetizable sleeve. Festo filed suit, clai...
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Franconia Associates v. United States - 536 U.S. 129 (2002) OCTOBER TERM, 2001 Syllabus FRANCONIA ASSOCIATES ET AL. v. UNITED STATES CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT No. 01-455. Argued April 15, 2002-Decided June 10,2002* Under 515 and 521 of the Housing Act of 1949, the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) makes direct loans to private, nonprofit entities to develop and/or construct rural housing for the elderly and low- or middle-income individuals and families. Petitioners are property owners who entered into such loans before December 21, 1979. The promissory notes petitioners executed authorized "[p]repaymen[t] of scheduled installments, or any portion thereof, ... at any time at the option of Borrower." On February 5, 1988, concerned about the dwindling supply of low- and middle-income rural housing in the face of increasing prepayments of mortgages by 515 borrowers, Congress enacted the Emergency Low Income Housing Preservation Ac...
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