Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Jun-06-1983
Watt v. Western Nuclear, Inc. - 462 U.S. 36 (1983) U.S. Supreme Court Watt v. Western Nuclear, Inc., 462 U.S. 36 (1983) Watt v. Western Nuclear, Inc. No. 81-1686 Argued January 17, 1983 Decided June 6, 1983 462 U.S. 36 CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT Syllabus The Stock-Raising Homestead Act of 1916 (SRHA) provided for the settlement of homesteads on lands the surface of which was "chiefly valuable for grazing and raising forage crops." Section 9 of the SRHA reserved to the United States title to "all the coal and minerals" in lands patented under the Act. When respondent mining company acquired a fee interest in land covered by a patent under the Act, it proceeded to remove gravel from a pit located on the land to use in paving streets and sidewalks in a company town where its workers lived. The Bureau of Land Management then notified respondent, and later determined, after a hearing, that the removal of the gravel constituted a trespa...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : May-16-1983
Hensley v. Eckerhart - 461 U.S. 424 (1983) U.S. Supreme Court Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424 (1983) Hensley v. Eckerhart No. 81-1244 Argued November 3, 1982 Decided May 16, 1983 461 U.S. 424 CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT Syllabus Respondents, on behalf of all persons involuntarily confined in the forensic unit of a Missouri state hospital, brought suit in Federal District Court against petitioner hospital officials, challenging the constitutionality of treatment and conditions at the hospital. The District Court, after a trial, found constitutional violations in five of the six general areas of treatment. Subsequently, respondents filed a request for attorney's fees under the Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Awards Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. 1988, which provides that, in federal civil rights actions, "the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the c...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Jun-29-1983
Jones v. United States - 463 U.S. 354 (1983) U.S. Supreme Court Jones v. United States, 463 U.S. 354 (1983) Jones v. United States No. 81-5195 Argued November 2, 1982 Decided June 29, 1983 463 U.S. 354 CERTIORARI TO THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS Syllabus Under the District of Columbia Code, a criminal defendant may be acquitted by reason of insanity if his insanity is affirmatively established by a preponderance of the evidence. He is then committed to a mental hospital and within 50 days thereafter is entitled to a judicial hearing to determine his eligibility for release, at which he has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that he is no longer mentally ill or dangerous. The Code also provides that the acquittee is entitled to a judicial hearing every six months at which he may establish by a preponderance of the evidence that he is entitled to release. Petitioner was charged in the District of Columbia Superior Court with attempted petit l...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Feb-28-1983
Maryland v. United States - 460 U.S. 1001 (1983) U.S. Supreme Court Maryland v. United States, 460 U.S. 1001 (1983) Maryland v. United States Nos. 82-953, 82-953, 82992, 821001 Decided February 28, 1983 460 U.S. 1001 The judgment is affirmed. MR. JUSTICE REHNQUIST, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and JUSTICE WHITE join, dissenting from summary affirmance. These consolidated cases raise questions concerning the settlement of a civil antitrust suit brought by the United States against American Telephone & Telegraph Co. ("AT & T"). In January, 1982, the parties announced a settlement in the form of a consent decree. The proposed settlement was filed in the District Court for the District of Columbia, which ordered the start of procedures provided for in the Antitrust Procedures & Penalties Act, 15 U.S.C. 16(b) et seq. ("the Act"). The Act provides: "Before entering any consent judgment proposed by the United States under this Section, the court shall determine that the entry of...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Mar-29-1983
Minneapolis Star v. Minnesota Comm'r - 460 U.S. 575 (1983) U.S. Supreme Court Minneapolis Star v. Minnesota Comm'r, 460 U.S. 575 (1983) Minneapolis Star & Tribune Co. v. Minnesota Commissioner of Revenue No. 81-1839 Argued January 12, 1983 Decided March 29, 1983 460 U.S. 575 APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF MINNESOTA Syllabus While exempting periodic publications from its general sales and use tax, Minnesota imposes a "use tax" on the cost of paper and ink products consumed in the production of such a publication, but exempts the first $100,000 worth of paper and ink consumed in any calendar year. Appellant newspaper publisher brought an action seeking a refund of the ink and paper use taxes it had paid during certain years, contending that the tax violates, inter alia, the guarantee of the freedom of the press in the First Amendment. The Minnesota Supreme Court upheld the tax. Held: The tax in question violates the First Amendment. Pp. 460 U. S. 579 -593. (a) There ...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Jul-05-1983
Marsh v. Chambers - 463 U.S. 783 (1983) U.S. Supreme Court Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 (1983) Marsh v. Chambers No. 82-23 Argued April 20, 1983 Decided July 5, 1983 463 U.S. 783 CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT Syllabus The Nebraska Legislature begins each of its sessions with a prayer by a chaplain paid by the State with the legislature's approval. Respondent member of the Nebraska Legislature brought an action in Federal District Court, claiming that the legislature's chaplaincy practice violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, and seeking injunctive relief. The District Court held that the Establishment Clause was not breached by the prayer, but was violated by paying the chaplain from public funds, and accordingly enjoined the use of such funds to pay the chaplain. The Court of Appeals held that the whole chaplaincy practice violated the Establishment Clause, and accordingly prohibited the State from engaging i...
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Decided on : Jun-15-1983
Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. v. Pfeifer - 462 U.S. 523 (1983) U.S. Supreme Court Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. v. Pfeifer, 462 U.S. 523 (1983) Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. v. Pfeifer No. 82-131 Argued February 28, 1983 Decided June 15, 1983 462 U.S. 523 CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT Syllabus Respondent was injured in the course of his employment while employed by petitioner as a loading helper on petitioner's coal barge in Pennsylvania. The injury made respondent permanently unable to return to his job or to perform other than light work. Respondent brought an action in Federal District Court against petitioner, alleging that his injury had been "caused by the negligence of the vessel" within the meaning of 5(b) of the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA). The District Court found in respondent's favor and awarded damages of $275,881.31, holding that receipt of compensation from petitioner under 4 of the LHWCA...
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Decided on : Jun-24-1983
Bolger v. Youngs Drug Products Corp. - 463 U.S. 60 (1983) U.S. Supreme Court Bolger v. Youngs Drug Products Corp., 463 U.S. 60 (1983) Bolger v. Youngs Drug Products Corp., No. 81-1590 Argued January 12, 1983 Decided June 24, 1983 463 U.S. 60 APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Syllabus Title 39 U.S.C. 3001(e)(2) prohibits the mailing of unsolicited advertisements for contraceptives. When appellee manufacturer of contraceptives proposed to mail to the public unsolicited advertisements including informational pamphlets promoting its products but also discussing venereal disease and family planning, the Postal Service notified appellee that the proposed mailings would violate 3001(e)(2). Appellee then brought an action for declaratory and injunctive relief in Federal District Court, which held that the statute, as applied to the proposed mailings, violated the First Amendment. Held: As applied to appellee's proposed mailings, 3001(e)(...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Apr-20-1983
..... reasons of public policy, had been accorded to various categories of officials"); procunier v. navarette, 434 u. s. 555 , 434 u. s. 561 (1978) ("although the court has recognized that, in enacting 1983, congress must have intended to expose state officials to damages liability in some circumstances, the section ..... v. winters, 96 f. at 934-935; press pub. co. v. mcdonald, 63 f. at 245-247; morning journal assn. v. rutherford, 51 f. 513, 514-515 (ca2 1892); fotheringham v. adams express co., 36 f. ..... .2d 49 (fla.1974); randall v. ganz, 96 idaho 785, 537 p.2d 65 (1975); pendowski v. patent scaffolding co., 89 ill.app.3d 484, 411 n.e.2d 910 (1980), appeal denied (ill.1981 ..... of state common law rules is only a device to facilitate determination of congressional intent. [ footnote 2/6 ] decisions from the page 461 u. s. 68 1970's, relied on by the court, are almost completely irrelevant to this inquiry into legislative intent. iii the court also purports to rely on decisions, handed down ..... s.e.2d at 301-302 (dictum); hall v. may department stores co., 292 ore. 131, 144-145, 637 p.2d 126, 134-135 (1981); chuy v. philadelphia eagles football club, supra, at 1276-1278 ..... malice, or deliberate violence or oppression" held a "textbook principle"); kelly v. mcdonald, 39 ark. at 393 ("exemplary damages ought not to be given unless in cases of intentional violation of another's right or when a proper act is done with an excess of force or violence, or with a malicious intent to injure another .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Apr-19-1983
Bowsher v. Merck & Co., Inc. - 460 U.S. 824 (1983) U.S. Supreme Court Bowsher v. Merck & Co., Inc., 460 U.S. 824 (1983) Bowsher v. Merck & Co., Inc. No. 81-1273 Argued December 1, 1982 Decided April 19, 1983 * 460 U.S. 824 CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT Syllabus Merck & Co. entered into three fixed-price negotiated contracts with the Defense Supply Agency and one such contract with the Veterans' Administration for the sale of pharmaceutical products to those agencies. The prices were based on Merck's catalog prices. As required by statute, each contract contained a standard access-to-records clause granting the Comptroller General the right to examine any "directly pertinent" records involving transactions related to the contract. Relying on these clauses, the Comptroller General, for the stated purpose of reviewing the reasonableness of the contract prices, demanded of Merck access to cost records pertinent to the con...
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