Tag: US supreme court

In Taylor v United States (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court held that “commerce” under the Hobbs Act should be interpreted broadly. Accordingly, it found that the government had satisfied its burden by establishing that the defendant robbed a drug d...

In Fisher v University of Texas at Austin (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the race-conscious admissions program in use by the university when Abigail Fisher applied to the school in 2008 is lawful under the Constitution’s Equal Protection ...

In Birchfield v North Dakota (2016), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Fourth Amendment permits warrantless breath tests incident to arrests for drunk driving. However, it held that warrantless blood tests do run afoul of the Constitution. &nbs...

In RJR Nabisco, Inc v The European Community, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the reach of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). By a vote of 4-3 (Justice Sonia Sotomayor having recused herself), the Court held that the federa...

In Utah v Strieff, the U.S. Supreme Court held that evidence seized incident to a lawful arrest on an outstanding warrant need not be suppressed just because the warrant was discovered during an investigatory stop, later found to be unlawful. The 5-3...

Puerto Rico is having a bad month, at least as far as the U.S. Supreme Court is concerned. In Commonwealth of Puerto Rico v Franklin California Tax-Free Trust 579 U.S. ___ (2016), the justices struck down a law that would have allowed public utilitie...

In Williams v Pennsylvania, the U.S. Supreme Court held that judges must recuse themselves in cases that they once prosecuted 579 U.S. ___ (2016). By a vote of 5-3, the justices held that a Pennsylvania judge’s participation in a death penalty case...

Downes v. Bidwell: Does the Constitution Follow the Flag? In Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244 (1901), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the rights and protections of the Constitution do not automatically apply to U.S. territories. The case is one of t...

Welch v. United States: Landmark Sentencing Decision Must Be Applied Retroactively On April 18, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court held that its landmark criminal sentencing decision in Johnson v. United States must be applied retroactively. The justices ...

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...