Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Jan-08-1997
Washington v. Glucksberg - 521 U.S. 702 (1997) OCTOBER TERM, 1996 Syllabus WASHINGTON ET AL. v. GLUCKSBERG ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT No. 96-110. Argued January 8, 1997-Decided June 26,1997 It has always been a crime to assist a suicide in the State of Washington. The State's present law makes "[p]romoting a suicide attempt" a felony, and provides: "A person is guilty of [that crime] when he knowingly causes or aids another person to attempt suicide." Respondents, four Washington physicians who occasionally treat terminally ill, suffering patients, declare that they would assist these patients in ending their lives if not for the State's assisted-suicide ban. They, along with three gravely ill plaintiffs who have since died and a nonprofit organization that counsels people considering physician-assisted suicide, filed this suit against petitioners, the State and its Attorney General, seeking a declaration that the ban is, on ...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Feb-18-1997
California Div. of Labor Standards Enforcement v. Dillingham Constr., N. A., Inc. - 519 U.S. 316 (1997) OCTOBER TERM, 1996 Syllabus CALIFORNIA DIVISION OF LABOR STANDARDS ENFORCEMENT ET AL. v. DILLINGHAM CONSTRUCTION, N. A., INC., ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT No. 95-789. Argued November 5, 1996-Decided February 18, 1997 California requires a public works project contractor to pay its workers the prevailing wage in the project's locale, but allows payment of a lower wage to participants in a state-approved apprenticeship program. Mter respondent Dillingham Construction subcontracted some of the work on its state contract to respondent Arceo, doing business as Sound Systems Media, the latter entered a collective-bargaining agreement that included an apprenticeship wage scale and provided for affiliation with an apprenticeship committee that ran an unapproved program. Sound Systems Media thereafter relied on that committee for its ...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Feb-19-1997
Schenck v. Pro-Choice Network of Western N. Y. - 519 U.S. 357 (1997) OCTOBER TERM, 1996 Syllabus SCHENCK ET AL. v. PRO-CHOICE NETWORK OF WESTERN NEW YORK ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT No. 95-1065. Argued October 16, 1996-Decided February 19, 1997 Respondents, upstate New York abortion doctors and clinics and an organization dedicated to maintaining access to abortion services, filed a complaint in the District Court seeking to enjoin petitioners, other individuals, and three organizations from engaging in blockades and other illegal conduct at the clinics. The record shows that, before the complaint was filed, the clinics were subjected to numerous large-scale blockades in which protesters marched, stood, knelt, sat, or lay in clinic parking lot driveways and doorways, blocking or hindering cars from entering the lots, and patients and clinic employees from entering the clinics. In addition, smaller groups of protesters consiste...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Jan-08-1997
Vacco v. Quill - 521 U.S. 793 (1997) OCTOBER TERM, 1996 Syllabus VACCO, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF NEW YORK, ET AL. v. QUILL ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT No. 95-1858. Argued January 8, 1997-Decided June 26,1997 In New York, as in most States, it is a crime to aid another to commit or attempt suicide, but patients may refuse even lifesaving medical treatment. Respondent New York physicians assert that, although it would be consistent with the standards of their medical practices to prescribe lethal medication for mentally competent, terminally ill patients who are suffering great pain and desire a doctor's help in taking their own lives, they are deterred from doing so by New York's assisted-suicide ban. They, and three gravely ill patients who have since died, sued the State's Attorney General, claiming that the ban violates the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The Federal District Court disagreed, but the Second Circui...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Apr-14-1997
Lindh v. Murphy - 521 U.S. 320 (1997) OCTOBER TERM, 1996 Syllabus LINDH v. MURPHY, WARDEN CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT No. 96-6298. Argued April 14, 1997-Decided June 23,1997 Wisconsin tried petitioner Lindh on noncapital murder and attempted murder charges. In response to his insanity defense, the State called a psychiatrist who had examined Lindh but who had come under criminal investigation for sexual exploitation of patients before the trial began. Lindh's attempt to question the doctor about that investigation in hopes of showing the doctor's interest in currying favor with the State was barred by the trial court, and Lindh was convicted. He was denied relief on his direct appeal, in which he claimed a violation of the Confrontation Clause. He raised that claim again in a federal habeas corpus application, which was denied, and he promptly appealed. Shortly after oral argument before the Seventh Circuit, the Antiterrorism and Ef...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Dec-08-1997
South Dakota v. Yankton Sioux Tribe - 522 U.S. 329 (1997) OCTOBER TERM, 1997 Syllabus SOUTH DAKOTA v. YANKTON SIOUX TRIBE ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT No.96-1581. Argued December 8, 1997-Decided January 26,1998 The Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota was established pursuant to an 1858 Treaty between the United States and the Yankton Tribe. Congress subsequently retreated from the reservation concept and passed the 1887 Dawes Act, which permitted the Government to allot tracts of tribal land to individual Indians and, with tribal consent, to open the remaining holdings to non-Indian settlement. In accordance with the Dawes Act, members of the respondent Tribe received individual allotments and the Government then negotiated with the Tribe for the cession of the remaining, unallotted reservation lands. An agreement reached in 1892 provided that the Tribe would "cede, sell, relinquish, and convey to the United States" all o...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Oct-14-1997
Chicago v. International College of Surgeons - 522 U.S. 156 (1997) OCTOBER TERM, 1997 Syllabus CITY OF CHICAGO ET AL. v. INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT No. 96-910. Argued October 14, 1997-Decided December 15,1997 Following the preliminary determination of Chicago's Historical and Architectural Landmarks Commission (Commission) that two of respondent ICS' buildings qualified for protection under the city's Landmarks Ordinance, the city enacted a Designation Ordinance creating a landmark district that included the buildings. ICS then applied to the Commission for permits to allow demolition of all but the facades of the buildings. The Commission denied ICS' permit applications. ICS then filed actions in state court under the Illinois Administrative Review Law for judicial review of the Commission's decisions, alleging, among other things, that the two ordinances and the manner in which the Commiss...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : May-19-1997
Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Town of Harrison - 520 U.S. 564 (1997) OCTOBER TERM, 1996 Syllabus CAMPS NEWFOUND/OWATONNA, INC. v. TOWN OF HARRISON ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT OF MAINE No. 94-1988. Argued October 9, 1996-Decided May 19, 1997 Petitioner, a Maine nonprofit corporation, operates a church camp for children, most of whom are not Maine residents. Petitioner is financed through camper tuition and other revenues. From 1989 to 1991, it paid over $20,000 per year in real estate and personal property taxes. A state statute provides a general exemption from those taxes for charitable institutions incorporated in Maine. With respect to institutions operated principally for the benefit of Maine nonresidents, however, a charity may only qualify for a more limited tax benefit, and then only if its weekly charge for services does not exceed $30 per person. Petitioner was ineligible for any exemption, because its campers were largely nonresidents and its we...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Apr-16-1997
United States v. O'Hagan - 521 U.S. 642 (1997) OCTOBER TERM, 1996 Syllabus UNITED STATES v. O'HAGAN CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT No. 96-842. Argued April 16, 1997-Decided June 25,1997 Mter Grand Metropolitan PLC (Grand Met) retained the law firm of Dorsey & Whitney to represent it regarding a potential tender offer for the Pillsbury Company's common stock, respondent O'Hagan, a Dorsey & Whitney partner who did no work on the representation, began purchasing call options for Pillsbury stock, as well as shares of the stock. Following Dorsey & Whitney's withdrawal from the representation, Grand Met publicly announced its tender offer, the price of Pillsbury stock rose dramatically, and O'Hagan sold his call options and stock at a profit of more than $4.3 million. A Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation culminated in a 57-count indictment alleging, inter alia, that O'Hagan defrauded his law firm and its client, Grand Me...
Tag this Judgment!Court : US Supreme Court
Decided on : Feb-19-1997
City of Boerne v. Flores - 521 U.S. 507 (1997) OCTOBER TERM, 1996 Syllabus CITY OF BOERNE v. FLORES, ARCHBISHOP OF SAN ANTONIO, ET AL. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT No. 95-2074. Argued February 19, 1997-Decided June 25,1997 Respondent, the Catholic Archbishop of San Antonio, applied for a building permit to enlarge a church in Boerne, Texas. When local zoning authorities denied the permit, relying on an ordinance governing historic preservation in a district which, they argued, included the church, the Archbishop brought this suit challenging the permit denial under, inter alia, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA). The District Court concluded that by enacting RFRA Congress exceeded the scope of its enforcement power under 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment. The court certified its order for interlocutory appeal, and the Fifth Circuit reversed, finding RFRA to be constitutional. Held: RFRA exceeds Congress' power. pp. 5...
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