Category: Supreme Court Decisions

By a vote of 5-4, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Lamps Plus Inc v Varela that an ambiguous agreement cannot provide the necessary contractual basis for concluding that the parties agreed to submit to class arbitration. The majority relied on the Fed...

In Garza v Idaho, 586 U. S. ____ (2019), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the presumption of prejudice for Sixth Amendment purposes recognized in Roe v. Flores-Ortega applies regardless of whether a defendant has signed an appeal waiver. The case w...

In Gaffney v Cummings, 412 U.S. 735 (1973), the U.S. Supreme Court held that exact equality between districts was not required for state redistricting as it is for Congressional districts. The Court further held that “political fairness” could j...

In Jam v International Finance Corp, 586 U. S. ____ (2019), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the International Organizations Immunities Act of 1945 affords international organizations the same immunity from suit that foreign governments enjoy today ...

In Madison v Alabama, 586 U. S. ____ (2019), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment may permit executing a prisoner even if he cannot remember committing his crime. However, it may prohibit executing a prisoner even though he suffers ...

In Timbs v. Indiana, 586 U. S. ____ (2019), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Eight Amendments’ ban on excessive fines is applicable to states. The Court’s decision was unanimous. Facts of Timbs v. Indiana Tyson Timbs pleaded guilty in ...

In Gray v. Sanders, 372 U.S. 368 (1963), the U.S. Supreme Court established the famous "one person, one vote" principle for legislative districting. “The concept of political equality...can mean only one thing—one person, one vote,” Justice Wi...

In Helsinn Healthcare S.A. v Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., 586 U. S. ____ (2019), the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that a commercial sale to a third party who is required to keep the invention confidential may place the invention “on sale�...

In Murdock v Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105 (1943), the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a municipal ordinance that taxed the door-to-door sale of religious merchandise. According to the divided Court, such a tax violated the First Amendment’s Free Exer...

In Stokeling v United States, 586 U.S. ____ (2019), the U.S. Supreme Court held by a vote of 5-4 that the Armed Career Criminal Act’s (ACCA) elements clause encompasses a robbery offense that, like Florida’s law, requires the criminal to overcom...