Court : US Supreme Court
Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Ct. - 478 U.S. 1 (1986) U.S. Supreme Court Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Ct., 478 U.S. 1 (1986) Press-Enterprise Co. v. Superior Court No. 84-1560 Argued February 26, 1986 Decided June 30, 1986 478 U.S. 1 CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA Syllabus California filed a complaint against a nurse charging him with murdering 12 patients by administering massive doses of the heart drug lidocaine. The Magistrate granted the defendant's motion to exclude the public from the preliminary hearing on the complaint under a California statute that requires such proceedings to be open unless "exclusion of the public is necessary in order to protect the defendant's right to a fair and impartial trial." At the conclusion of the 41-day preliminary hearing, the Magistrate refused petitioner's request that the transcript of the proceedings be released. Thereafter, the State, supported by petitioner and opposed by the defendant, moved unsuccessfully...
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Davis v. Bandemer - 478 U.S. 109 (1986) U.S. Supreme Court Davis v. Bandemer, 478 U.S. 109 (1986) Davis v. Bandemer No. 84-1244 Argued October 7, 1985 Decided June 30, 1986 478 U.S. 109 APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA Syllabus The Indiana Legislature consists of a 100-member House of Representatives and a 50-member Senate. Representatives serve 2-year terms, with elections for all seats every two years. Senators serve 4-year terms, with half of the seats up for election every two years. Senators are elected from single-member districts, while representatives are elected from a mixture of single-member and multimember districts. In 1981, the legislature reapportioned the districts pursuant to the 1980 census. At that time, there were Republican majorities in both the House and the Senate. The reapportionment plan provided 50 single-member districts for the Senate and 7 triple-member, 9 double-member, and 61 single-member dist...
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Bowers v. Hardwick - 478 U.S. 186 (1986) U.S. Supreme Court Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986) Bowers v. Hardwick No. 85-140 Argued March 31, 1986 Decided June 30, 1986 478 U.S. 186 CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT Syllabus After being charged with violating the Georgia statute criminalizing sodomy by committing that act with another adult male in the bedroom of his home, respondent Hardwick (respondent) brought suit in Federal District Court, challenging the constitutionality of the statute insofar as it criminalized consensual sodomy. The court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded, holding that the Georgia statute violated respondent's fundamental rights. Held: The Georgia statute is constitutional. Pp. 478 U. S. 190 -196. (a) The Constitution does not confer a fundamental right upon homosexuals to engage in sodomy. None of the fundamental right...
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Acosta v. Louisiana Dept. of HHS - 478 U.S. 251 (1986) U.S. Supreme Court Acosta v. Louisiana Dept. of HHS, 478 U.S. 251 (1986) Acosta v. Louisiana Department of Health and Human Services No. 85-1500 Decided June 30, 1986 478 U.S. 251 ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT Syllabus After the District Court granted respondents' motion to dismiss petitioner's civil rights suit against respondents, and after petitioner abandoned his appeal, the District Court granted respondents' motion for an award of attorney's fees on the ground that petitioner had filed his action in bad faith. Petitioner then filed a motion, under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e), to alter or amend the judgment. After a hearing, the court denied the motion from the bench, and petitioner filed a notice of appeal that same afternoon. However, the District Court's order denying the Rule 59(e) motion was not entered on the docket until two days later...
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Japan Whaling Ass'n v. Cetacean Soc'y - 478 U.S. 221 (1986) U.S. Supreme Court Japan Whaling Ass'n v. Cetacean Soc'y, 478 U.S. 221 (1986) Japan Whaling Association v. American Cetacean Society No. 85-954 Argued April 30, 1986 Decided June 30, 1986 * 478 U.S. 221 CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT Syllabus The International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) included a Schedule regulating whale harvesting practices of member nations (including the United States and Japan) and setting harvest limits for various whale species. It also established the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and authorized it to set harvest quotas. However, the IWC has no power to impose sanctions for quota violations, and any member country may file a timely objection to an IWC amendment of the Schedule and thereby exempt itself from any obligation to comply with the limit. Because of the IWC's inability to enforce its own quota an...
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Allen v. Hardy - 478 U.S. 255 (1986) U.S. Supreme Court Allen v. Hardy, 478 U.S. 255 (1986) Allen v. Hardy No. 85-6593 Decided June 30, 1986 478 U.S. 255 ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES `COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT Syllabus At his Illinois state court trial, which resulted in murder convictions, petitioner, a black man, moved unsuccessfully to discharge the jury on the ground that the prosecutor's use of peremptory challenges to strike black and Hispanic veniremen violated petitioner's right to an impartial jury selected from a cross-section of the community. Affirming the convictions, the Illinois Appellate Court upheld the trial judge's refusal to discharge the jury, since the record did not establish systematic exclusion of minorities by prosecutors in the jurisdiction, as required by Swain v. Alabama, 380 U. S. 202 . Petitioner then filed federal habeas corpus proceedings, renewing his argument concerning the State's use of perempto...
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Thornburg v. Gingles - 478 U.S. 30 (1986) U.S. Supreme Court Thornburg v. Gingles, 478 U.S. 30 (1986) Thornburg v. Gingles No. 83-1968 Argued December 4, 1985 Decided June 30, 1986 478 U.S. 30 APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA Syllabus In 1982, the North Carolina General Assembly enacted a legislative redistricting plan for the State's Senate and House of Representatives. Appellees, black citizens of North Carolina who are registered to vote, brought suit in Federal District Court, challenging one single-member district and six multimember districts on the ground, inter alia, that the redistricting plan impaired black citizens' ability to elect representatives of their choice in violation of 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. After appellees brought suit, but before trial, 2 was amended, largely in response to Mobile v. Bolden, 446 U. S. 55 , to make clear that a violation of 2 could be proved by showing discrim...
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New Mexico v. Earnest - 477 U.S. 648 (1986) U.S. Supreme Court New Mexico v. Earnest, 477 U.S. 648 (1986) New Mexico v. Earnest No. 85-162 Argued April 1, 1986 Decided June 27, 1986 477 U.S. 648 CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW MEXICO 103 N. M. 96, 703 P.2d 872, vacated and remanded. PER CURIAM. We vacate the judgment of the Supreme Court of New Mexico and remand for further proceedings not inconsistent with the opinion in Lee v. Illinois, 476 U. S. 530 (1986). It is so ordered. Page 477 U. S. 649 JUSTICE REHNQUIST, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE, JUSTICE POWELL, and JUSTICE O'CONNOR join, concurring. I agree that the decision of the Supreme Court of New Mexico should be vacated and the case remanded for further consideration in light of Lee v. Illinois, 476 U. S. 530 (1986). The Supreme Court of New Mexico held that the admission against respondent of an out-of-court statement of a codefendant violated respondent's rights under the Confrontation Clause of the ...
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Lyng v. Castillo - 477 U.S. 635 (1986) U.S. Supreme Court Lyng v. Castillo, 477 U.S. 635 (1986) Lyng v. Castillo No. 85-250 Argued April 29, 1986 Decided June 27, 1986 477 U.S. 635 APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS Syllabus Eligibility and benefit levels in the federal food stamp program are determined on a "household," rather than an individual, basis. The statutory definition of the term "household," as amended in 1981 and 1982, generally treats parents, children, and siblings who live together as a single household, but does not treat more distant relatives, or groups of unrelated persons who live together, as a single household unless they also customarily purchase food and prepare meals together. Appellees are families who generally buy their food and prepare their meals as separate economic units, and who will either lose benefits or have their food stamp allotment decreased as a result of the 1981 and 1982 amendments to t...
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BATF v. Galioto - 477 U.S. 556 (1986) U.S. Supreme Court BATF v. Galioto, 477 U.S. 556 (1986) United States Dept. of the Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms v. Galioto No. 84-1904 Argued March 26, 1986 Decided June 27, 1986 477 U.S. 556 APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY Syllabus Appellee, who had been involuntarily committed to a mental hospital for a period of several days in 1971, was unable to purchase a firearm from a store in 1982 because of the provisions of 18 U.S.C. 922(d) prohibiting sales of firearms to such persons. Section 922(d) and other federal statutes prohibiting persons who have been committed to mental institutions from possessing, receiving, or transporting firearms also apply to felons. However, under 18 U.S.C. 925(c), certain felons could apply to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for administrative relief from the disabilities imposed by federal firearms laws, but no such relief was ...
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