Category: Supreme Court Decisions

In Luis v. United States, 136 U.S. 1083 (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the pretrial freeze of a criminal defendant's legitimate, untainted assets violates the Sixth Amendment right to counsel of choice. While the significant constitutiona...

Observing the Nineteenth Amendment: Women’s Right to Vote The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on August 18, 1920. It prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of se...

Examining Evenwel v. Abbott In Evenwel v. Abbott, 578 U. S. ____ (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a state or locality may draw its legislative districts based on total population. The unanimous 8-0 decision is one of the most significant...

On March 29, 2016, an equally divided U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the lower court ruling in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. The non-precedential per curium decision leaves the constitutionality of public union agency fees to be decided...

In Wearry v. Cain, 577 U. S. ____ (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the prosecution’s failure to disclose material evidence violated the petitioner’s due process rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. Accordingly, the justices orde...

In V.L. v. E.L, 577 U. S. ____ (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that the State of Alabama must recognize an adoption by a same-sex parent that occurred in another state. The Court’s per curium decision rested on the Constitution’s ...

In Swift & Co. v. United States, 196 U.S. 375 (1905), the U.S. Supreme Court held that Congress was authorized under the Constitution to regulate local business activities that were part of the "stream of commerce" between states. The ruling a...

On March 7, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court held that for purposes of diversity jurisdiction, the citizenship of an unincorporated entity, such as a real estate investment trust, depends on the citizenship of all of its members. The decision in Americol...

In Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356 (1886), the U.S. Supreme Court first held that discriminatory enforcement of a facially neutral law violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.   The Facts of the Yick Wo v. Hop...

On March 1, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) pre-empts a Vermont law requiring certain entities, including health insurers, to report payments relating to health care claims to a state agency ...