United States Supreme Court (9 summaries)
Marvin M. Brandt Revocable Trust v United States
The right of way granted under the Right-of-Way Act of 1875 is an easement and thus, when abandoned by the Railroad, the easement is terminated.
Area(s) of Law:- Property Law
Fernandez v. California
An objecting occupant does not have the Fourth Amendment right to suspend all searches of a residence when another occupant consents to the search. The objecting occupant must be at the residence to assert their Fourth Amendment right.
Area(s) of Law:- Criminal Procedure
Sandifer v United States Steel Corporation
The time spent putting on protective gear before work qualifies as "changing clothes" under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
Area(s) of Law:- Labor Law
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v Nassar
Title VII retaliation claims must be proved according to traditional principles of but-for causation.
Area(s) of Law:- Employment Law
Alleyne v United States
"Elemental" facts must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt by the jury and any fact that raises the prescribed sentencing is "elemental".
Area(s) of Law:- Criminal Law
Peugh v United States
A change in the sentencing guidelines after the date of the crime, which are then used to sentence an individual, is a violation of the Ex Post Facto clause.
Area(s) of Law:- Sentencing
Levin v. United States
The Gonzalez Act abrogates the Federal Tort Claim Act's sovereign immunity exception for intentional tort claims against medical doctors, therefore intentional tort claims against armed forces medical personnel acting within the scope of their employment are permissible.
Area(s) of Law:- Tort Law
Evans v. Michigan
The Double Jeopardy Clause bars retrial after an acquittal regardless of whether the acquittal was erroneous.
Area(s) of Law:- Constitutional Law
United States v Home Concrete & Supply LLC.
26 U.S.C. §6501(e)(1))(A), which extends the period for detecting mistakes in tax returns from 3 years to 6 years only applies to complete omissions. It does not apply to basic understatements which lead to a smaller taxable gross income.
Area(s) of Law:- Administrative Law
United States Supreme Court Certiorari Granted (11 summaries)
Limelight Networks, Inc. V Akamai Technologies, Inc.
Whether 35 U.S.C. §271(b) allows a defendant to be held liable for patent infringement when no one committed a direct infringement.
Area(s) of Law:- Patents
Wood v. Moss
(1) Whether viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment occurred when the Secret Service moved anti-Bush demonstrators, but not pro-Bush demonstrators; and (2) whether the Secret Service are entitled to qualified immunity.
Area(s) of Law:- First Amendment
Highmark Inc. v. Allcare Management Systems, Inc.
Whether permitting the award of attorney’s fees to the prevailing party, in exceptional cases under 35 U.S.C. § 285, based on a court's judgment that a suit is objectively baseless, is entitled to deference.
Area(s) of Law:- Attorney Fees
White v. Woodall
(1) Whether the trial court's failure to include a no adverse inference instruction to the jury is grounds for Habeas Corpus relief; and (2) whether such error is harmless under Brecht v Abrahamson.
Area(s) of Law:- Criminal Procedure
Michigan v Bay Mills Indian Community
Whether Federal Courts have jurisdiction over tribal casinos that are not on tribal land and whether tribal sovereign immunity bars a state from bring a claim against a tribal casino that is not on tribal land.
Area(s) of Law:- Tribal Law
Town of Greece v. Galloway
Whether a legislative prayer practice violates the Establishment Clause.
Area(s) of Law:- Constitutional Law
Sprint Communications Co. v Jacobs
Whether the United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit erred in applying the abstention doctrine to a review a "coercive" or "remedial" state proceeding.
Area(s) of Law:- Civil Procedure
Agency for Int’l Dev. v. Alliance for Open Society Int’l, Inc.
Whether §7631(f) of the United States Leadership against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003 (“Leadership Act”), which requires that agencies that receive federal funding to administer foreign HIV and AIDS programs must have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex-trafficking, and endorse the government’s stance on prostitution, violates the First Amendment.
Area(s) of Law:- First Amendment
Horne v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
Whether a party may bring a Fifth Amendment Just Compensation Clause challenge in district court prior to exhausting the statutorily prescribed process for obtaining just compensation through the Court of Federal Claims.
Area(s) of Law:- Constitutional Law
Levin v. United States
Whether the United States and individual military personnel acting within the scope of their employment can be sued for the common law tort of battery.
Area(s) of Law:- Tort Law
Evans v. Michigan
Whether an erroneously granted directed verdict, based on the prosecution’s failure to prove a non-existent element of the crime is an acquittal subject to the double-jeopardy provisions of the United States and state constitutions.
Area(s) of Law:- Constitutional Law