Category: Supreme Court Decisions

In Lochner v. New York, 198 U.S. 45 (1905), the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a New York law that established maximum working hours for bakers. According to the majority, the right to buy and sell labor was a liberty interest protected under the...

In Kansas v. Carr, 577 U. S. ____ (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of jury instructions used in two Kansas capital murder cases. The justices ruled that the Eighth Amendment does not mandate that courts instruct ...

In Northern Securities Co. v. United States, 193 U.S. 197 (1904), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a holding company formed to create a railroad monopoly violated the Sherman Antitrust Law. The government’s victory in the case helped solidify P...

In Montgomery v. Louisiana, 577 U. S. ____ (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court addressed how state courts should apply its decision in Miller v. Alabama, in which the Court held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits a sentencing scheme that requires life in...

In Pollock v. Farmers Loan & Trust Co., 157 U.S. 429 (1895), the U.S. Supreme Court held that federal taxes on interest, dividends and rents violated Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution. In 1913, the adoption of the Sixteenth Amendment nullifi...

In Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, 577 U. S. ____ (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether a case becomes moot, and thus beyond the judicial power of Article III, when the plaintiff receives and rejects an offer of complete relief on his claim....

In United States v. E.C. Knight, 156 U.S. 1 (1895), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was a valid exercise of Congress’ power under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. However, it also held that the statute could...

On January 12, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Florida’s capital-sentencing scheme in Hurst v. Florida, 577 U. S. (2016). By a vote of 8-1, the justices held that allowing the trial judge to have the final say on a death sentence violated ...

In Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 576 US _ (2015), the U.S. Supreme Court addressed the legal standard for finding unconstitutionally excessive force during pre-trial detention. By a vote of 5-4, the justices held that a pretrial detainee pursuing an ex...

In Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, 431 U.S. 209 (1977), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not prohibit governments from requiring non-union public employees to pay their “fair share” of dues f...