United States Supreme Court (15 summaries)
Woods v. Donald
A temporary absence by defense counsel is not ineffective assistance of counsel per se under U.S. v. Cronic when it occurs during testimony about co-defendants that defense counsel deems irrelevant to defendant’s theory of the case.
Area(s) of Law:- Habeas Corpus
Yates v. United States
"Tangible object," as used in 18 USC § 1519 and elsewhere in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, refers to a physical object capable of recording or preserving information.
Area(s) of Law:- Criminal Law
Gelboim v. Bank of America
When a case that is part of a consolidated proceedings in multidistrict litigation is dismissed on the merits, the district court has made a final decision that to remove the case from the consolidated proceedings and the case may be appealed under § 1291.
Area(s) of Law:- Civil Procedure
T-Mobile South, LLC v. City of Roswell
Under § 332(c)(7)(B)(iii) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, a locality must state the reasoning for the denial of an application, and that reasoning may be issued in another written record so long as it is "essentially contemporaneously" with the denial.
Area(s) of Law:- Administrative Law
American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc.
Under the language and purpose of the Copyright Act of 1976, contemporaneous transmission of broadcast television signals over the Internet are public performances whenever the signals are made available to the public.
Area(s) of Law:- Copyright
Executive Benefits Insurance Agency v. Arkison
When hearing a Stern claim — certain "core" bankruptcy claims over which bankruptcy courts lack the power to grant final adjudications — bankruptcy courts may issue proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law for district courts to review de novo.
Area(s) of Law:- Bankruptcy Law
Plumhoff v. Rickard
(1) A party may immediately appeal the denial of a summary judgment motion when it is based on a qualified immunity claim. (2) Qualified immunity applies to officials sued under § 1983 unless the claimant shows that the official violated a “clearly established” statutory or constitutional right.
Area(s) of Law:- Qualified Immunity
Northwest, Inc. v. Ginsberg
The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 preempts state common law provisions that expand the scope of the contract rights between airlines and air passengers.
Area(s) of Law:- Preemption
Law v. Siegel
Bankruptcy courts may only disallow statutory exemptions if permitted by statute, and lack any statutory or inherent power to directly or indirectly disallow exemptions by contradicting specific statutes.
Area(s) of Law:- Bankruptcy Law
Kansas v. Cheever
The rule in Buchanan v. Kentucky that the state does not violate a defendant’s privilege against self-incrimination when it offers psychological expert testimony derived from the defendant’s statements during a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation for the limited purpose of rebutting a defendant’s “mental status” defense.
Area(s) of Law:- Criminal Procedure
United States v. Woods
The District Court had jurisdiction to decide whether a partnerships' lack of economic substance justified a valuation-misstatement penalty on the partners.
Area(s) of Law:- Tax Law
Salinas v. Texas
Noncustodial witnesses must verbally assert their Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination for it to have effect. Silence from a noncustodial witness does not imply that the witness asserts their privilege against self-incrimination even when the witness's silence is in reliance of their privilege against self-incrimination.
Area(s) of Law:- Criminal Procedure
Tarrant Regional Water District v. Herrmann
In the absence of express language creating cross-border rights to water located entirely within one state, the Red River compact does not preempt Oklahoma state water statutes from discriminating against out of state takers. The dormant Commerce Clause is not violated by Oklahoma's water statutes even though they have a discriminatory effect on the interstate commerce of water.
Area(s) of Law:- Water Rights
Trevino v. Thaler
The "good cause" exception recognized in Martinez v. Ryan applies if a state's procedural framework limits any meaningful opportunity to raise a claim on direct appeal that trial counsel provided ineffective assistance.
Area(s) of Law:- Habeas Corpus
Bowman v. Monsanto Co.
The Patent Exhaustion Doctrine does not apply when the buyer reproduces the patented product. This includes "self-replicating products" where the item's intended use will create copies that have "non-replicating" uses.
Area(s) of Law:- Patents
United States Supreme Court Certiorari Granted (17 summaries)
Hurst v. Florida
Whether Florida's death sentencing scheme violates the Sixth Amendment or the Eighth Amendment in light of this Court's decision in Ring v. Arizona, 536 U.S. 584 (2002).
Area(s) of Law:- Constitutional Law
Bullard v. Hyde Park Savings Bank
Whether a bankruptcy court's denial of a reorganization plan is a final order that may be appealed.
Area(s) of Law:- Bankruptcy Law
Brumfield v. Cain
Whether (1) exclusive reliance on findings made during the penalty phase of a trial is an unreasonable determination of facts under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) for making an Atkins analysis; and (2) whether a state's denial of resources for post-trial evidentiary examinations denies a defendant the "opportunity to be heard" and to mount an adequate defense.
Area(s) of Law:- Criminal Law
King v. Burwell
Whether the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) creates rule-making authority permitting the IRS to grant tax credit subsidies to taxpayers who have purchased health insurance plans through health insurance exchanges established by either states or the federal government.
Area(s) of Law:- Administrative Law
Coleman-Bey v. Tollefson
Whether a dismissal that is not final, either due pending appellate review or because the time period to appeal has not run, is counted when determining if 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) applies to bar civil actions or appeals by prisoners who have already had three or more civil actions or appeals dismissed.
Area(s) of Law:- Civil Procedure
Ohio v. Clark
(1) Whether individuals acting under mandatory reporting statutes become law enforcement agents under the Confrontation Clause; and (2) whether non-emergency hearsay statements from minor children to such individuals are testimonial statements under the Confrontation Clause.
Area(s) of Law:- Evidence
Oneok, Inc. v. Learjet, Inc.
Whether the Natural Gas Act, which defines Federal Energy Regulation Commission (“FERC”) jurisdiction over natural gas, preempts state antitrust claims arising from transactions beyond FERC jurisdiction.
Area(s) of Law:- Preemption
United States v. June
Whether equitable tolling of the Federal Tort Claims Act’s two-year time limit for administration claims with the appropriate agency is permitted.
Area(s) of Law:- Civil Procedure
Department of Transportation v. Association of American Railroads
Whether Amtrak is a private entity for purposes of determining whether Congress may delegate legislative authority to Amtrak, jointly with the Federal Railroad Administration, to create rules used in Surface Transportation Board adjudications.
Area(s) of Law:- Constitutional Law
Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Association; Nickols v. Mortgage Bankers Association
Whether agencies must submit significant changes to a definitive agency interpretation to the public under the notice and comment requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.
Area(s) of Law:- Administrative Law
T-Mobile South, LLC v. City of Roswell
Whether, according to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, a government may deny a telecommunication company's request "in writing" by sending a statement that contains no written explanation of its reasoning, or if there must be a written record for its reasoning and a written statement for the denial to qualify as being "in writing."
Area(s) of Law:- Administrative Law
Yates v. United States
Whether 18 U.S.C. § 1519 makes it an offense to destroy any tangible objects with the intent to impede an investigation or administrative matter, or whether the statute is limited to tangible objects related to records or documents.
Area(s) of Law:- Evidence
Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc., et al.
Whether the Federal Circuit erred in reviewing district court factual findings of construction of patent claims de novo and Rule 52(a) standard of review accepting findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous applies to construction of patent claims.
Area(s) of Law:- Patents
United States v. Quality Stores, Inc.
Whether severance payments made to involuntarily terminated employees are taxable as wages under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act.
Area(s) of Law:- Tax Law
Paroline v. United States
Whether the "proximate result" language of 18 U.S.C. § 2259(b)(3)(F) requires the government or victim to establish some, if any, "causal relationship or nexus between defendant's conduct and victim's harm or damages" in order to recover restitution.
Area(s) of Law:- Criminal Law
Mayorkas v. Cuellar de Osorio
(1) Whether the Child Status Protection Act ("CSPA") grants “automatic conversion and priority date retention” to allow applicants who were derivative recipients of visas but "aged out" before the visas were granted, and now apply as adults, to apply using the original filing date of their parents' visa applications; And (2) whether the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") exceeded its authority when it interpreted CSPA was ambiguous and narrowly limited "automatic conversion."
Area(s) of Law:- Immigration
National Labor Relations Board v. Canning
"(1) Whether the President’s recess-appointment power may be exercised during a recess that occurs within a session of the Senate, or is instead limited to recesses that occur between enumerated sessions of the Senate, and (2) whether the President’s recess-appointment power may be exercised to fill vacancies that exist during a recess, or is instead limited to vacancies that first arose during that recess."
Area(s) of Law:- Constitutional Law