Citation676 S.W.2d 282, 1984 Mo. App. 4784. Brief Fact Summary. The Defendant, Sandra Nations (Defendant) owns and operates the Main Street Disco, in which police officers found a scantily clad sixteen-year-old girl dancing for tips. Consequently, the Defendant was charged with endangering the welfare of a child less than seventeen years old. The Defendant was convicted and fined $1,000. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Missouri criminal code defines “knowingly” as actual knowledge. A person acts knowingly, or with knowledge, with respect to attendant circumstances when he is aware ...
Search Results
United States v. Sioux Nations of Indians
Citation448 U.S. 371,100 S. Ct. 2716, 65 L. Ed. 2d 844,1980 U.S. Brief Fact Summary. Congress took away the land of the Sioux, which had previously been given to them in perpetuity. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The 1877 Act constituted a taking of tribal property, which had been set aside for the exclusive occupation of the Sioux by the Fort Laramie Treaty. That taking implied an obligation on the part of the government to provide just compensation to the Sioux Nation. ...
Vosburg v. Putney
Citation80 Wis. 523, 50 N.W. 403 (1891) Brief Fact Summary. Plaintiff was originally injured, but was recovering well. Defendant kicked Plaintiff light in the shin and reactivated the bacteria which entered in plaintiff’s body due to the first injury. Because of this reactivation, Plaintiff’s leg had a severe infection. Plaintiff’s parents sued for assault and battery against the defendant. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Defendant could be held liable for a battery despite an express finding by the jury that he did not intend to harm the ...
Toms v. Calvary Assembly of God, Inc.
Citation446 Md. 543, 132 A.3d 866 (2016) Brief Fact Summary. Plaintiff’s cows were scared by firework displayed by defendant. As a result, the scared cows damaged plaintiff’s property and four cows died. Plaintiff sued defendant for conducting abnormally dangerous activity and should thus be strictly liable for plaintiff’s injury. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Lawful fireworks displays were not an abnormally dangerous activity. ...
O’Brien v. Cunard Steamship Co.
Citation154 Mass. 272, 28 N.E. 266 (1891) Brief Fact Summary. Plaintiff was on her passage to Boston. Pursuant to Boston quarantine regulations, all travelers needed to be vaccinated before arrival, so the surgeon vaccinated Plaintiff on her shipboard. Plaintiff did not want to receive the vaccination and sued Cunard Steamship Company for assault. Synopsis of Rule of Law. In determining whether there is consent, the Court should look at plaintiff’s overt acts and the manifestations of her feelings. Plaintiff’s subjective state of mind does no ...
Dillon v. Twin State Gas & Electric Co.
Citation85 N.H. 449, 164 A. 111 (1932) Brief Fact Summary. The decedent was a boy who lost his balance on a bridge and grabbed a live wire. The wire was maintained by defendant and was charged with high voltage. Plaintiff, as the administrator of decedent’s estate, brought a negligence action against defendant. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Defendant is liable for damages to plaintiff’s probable future but for defendant’s negligence. ...
O’Brien v. Cunard S.S. Co.
Citation154 Mass. 272, 28 N.E. 266 Brief Fact Summary. Plaintiff alleged that she was vaccinated against her will while she was a passenger aboard Defendant’s steamship. She brought suit against Defendant for assault and for negligently vaccinating her. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A person’s verbal and non-verbal conduct can be examined to determine whether they consented to the tortious contact, or whether their conduct could be understood as consent. ...
Zivotofsky v. Kerry
Citation135 S. Ct. 2076 (2015) Brief Fact Summary. The State Department did not allow any country to be listed as the place of birth on passports for citizens born in Jerusalem. In spite of this, Congress passed a law allowing citizens born in Jerusalem to list their birthplace as “Jerusalem, Israel.” Synopsis of Rule of Law. The president has the exclusive authority to recognize foreign nations and governments. ...
United States v. Curtiss-Wright
Citation299 U.S. 304 (1936) Brief Fact Summary. The respondent argued that the delegation of the power to prescribe the sale of arms to certain countries by Congress to the President is invalid under the Constitution. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The President is the sole organ of the nation in its external relations, and its sole representative with foreign nations. ...
South Dakota v. Dole
Citation483 U.S. 203 (1987) Brief Fact Summary. South Dakota’s minimum drinking age was nineteen years old, and Congress passed a law establishing a national minimum drinking age of twenty-one years old. Synopsis of Rule of Law. There are four limitations to Congress’ spending power: (1) the exercise of the spending power must be in pursuit of the general welfare; (2) if Congress wants to condition states’ receipt of federal funds, it must do so unambiguously, enabling states to make an informed choice; (3) conditions on federal grants may be illegitim ...
Kassel v. Consolidated Freightways
Citation450 U.S. 662 (1981) Brief Fact Summary. Appellee Consolidated challenged an Iowa statute that prohibits the use of certain large trucks within the State alleging that it unconstitutionally burdens interstate commerce. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Commerce Clause does not invalidate all state restrictions on commerce. Those who would challenge such bona fide safety regulations must overcome a strong presumption of validity. ...
Johnson v. California
Citation543 U.S. 499 (2005) Brief Fact Summary. The petitioner challenged the California Department of Corrections’ practice of racially segregating prisoners in double cells in reception centers for up to 60 days each time they enter a new correctional facility. Synopsis of Rule of Law. All racial classifications must be shown to be necessary to the accomplishment of some permissible state objective, independent of the racial discrimination which it was the object of the Fourteenth Amendment to eliminate. ...
Griswold v. Connecticut
Citation381 U.S. 479 (1965) Brief Fact Summary. Appellants argued that the Connecticut statutes that make it a crime to use any drug or medicinal instrument for the purpose of preventing conception violate the Fourteenth Amendment. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The State may not, consistently with the First Amendment, contract the spectrum of available knowledge. ...
Gibbons v. Ogden
Citation. 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1 (1824) Brief Fact Summary. Congress passed a law providing for the licensing and regulation of ships engaged in specific activities, but New York passed a law that prevented a ship that was licensed under Congress’ law from navigating New York waters. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Congress can regulate commerce within a state, as long as that commerce is not solely intrastate–that is, as long as that commerce is with another state or foreign nation. . State laws that conflict with Congress’ exercises of its commerce power are invalid. ...
Boumediene v. Bush
Citation553 U.S. 723 (2008) Brief Fact Summary. Petitioners were designated as enemy combatants and detained at Guantanamo Bay. The procedures for challenging their designations were laid out in the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005. The detainees sought habeas corpus. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Non-citizens designated as enemy combatants detained at the United States Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have the constitutional privilege of habeas corpus. ...
Zivotofsky v. Kerry
Citation135 S. CT. 2076, 192 L. Ed. 2d 83 (2015) Brief Fact Summary. The petitioner, born to U.S citizens living in Jerusalem, sought to record his birthplace as Israel. While the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) does not allow the record the place of birth for citizens born in Jerusalem as Israel, Congress passed an Act to to allow citizens born in Jerusalem to list their place of birth as “Israel.” Synopsis of Rule of Law. The President alone has the power of recognition and Congress has authority regarding many of the pol ...
Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project
Citation561 U.S. 1 (2010) Brief Fact Summary. The plaintiffs, who seek to provide support to groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations under the federal statute, challenged the statute. They claimed that they wanted to facilitate only the lawful, nonviolent purposes of those groups and that the prohibition by the statute violates the Constitution. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A content-neutral regulation will be sustained under the First Amendment if it advances important governmental interests unrelated to the suppression of free speech and do ...
United States v. E.C. Knight Co. (The Sugar Trust Case)
Citation156 U.S. 1 (1895) Brief Fact Summary. The respondent, E.C. Knight Co., sought the cancellation of stock agreements made by the American Sugar Refining Company that made the company acquire nearly complete control of the manufacture of refined sugar within the United States, alleging that such monopoly violates the Commerce Clause. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A State shall have the power to protect the lives, health and property of its citizens and to preserve good order and the public morals. The power to govern citizens within its limits is ...
Strauder v. West Virginia
Citation. 100 U.S. (10 Otto) 303 (1879) Brief Fact Summary. The petitioner complained for the denial of his constitutional rights when he was rejected to serve on the grand jury in his State. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Fourteenth Amendment secures to a race that through many generations had been held in slavery all civil rights that the superior race enjoy. ...
National League of Cities v. Usery
Citation426 U.S. 833 (1976) Brief Fact Summary. Appellants contend that the 1974 amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act, while undoubtedly within the scope of the Commerce Clause, encounter a constitutional barrier because they are to be applied directly to the States and subdivisions of States as employers. Synopsis of Rule of Law. There are limits upon the power of Congress to override state sovereignty, even when exercising its otherwise plenary powers to tax or to regulate commerce which are conferred by the Constitution. ...
Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha
Citation462 U.S. 919 (1983) Brief Fact Summary. The respondent challenged a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, authorizing one House of Congress to invalidate the decision of the Executive Branch, pursuant to authority delegated by Congress to the Attorney General of the United States, to allow a particular deportable alien to remain in the United States. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Whether actions taken by either House are an exercise of legislative power depends not on their form but upon “whether they contain matter which ...
Griswold v. Connecticut
Citation381 U.S. 479 (1965) Brief Fact Summary. Appellants challenged the Connecticut statutes that make it a crime to use any drug or medicinal instrument for the purpose of preventing conception. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Court has protected the freedom to associate and privacy in one’s associations and that freedom of association is a peripheral First Amendment right. ...
Gibbons v. Ogden
Citation. 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 1 (1824) Brief Fact Summary. The state courts enjoined Gibbons from using any steamboats in navigating the waters in the territory of New York after Ogden, who had an exclusive state license to operate a steamboat in New York waters, sued to enjoin Gibbons. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Congress shall have the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes. In regulating commerce with foreign nations, the power of Congress does not stop at the jurisdictional lines of several States for ...
Baker v. Carr
Citation369 U.S. 186 (1962) Brief Fact Summary. The State of Tennessee had failed to enact reapportionment of the state legislative reapportionment despite the state’s constitutional requirement. Plaintiffs, citizens of the state, sued the state for failure to enact the appropriate statute. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The appropriateness under our system of government of attributing finality to the action of the political departments and the lack of satisfactory criteria for a judicial determination are dominant considerations. The nonjusticiability of ...
Gibbons v. Ogden
Citation. 22 U.S. (9 Wheat) 1, 6 L.Ed. 23 (1824). Brief Fact Summary. New York granted an exclusive right to navigate its waters to Livingston and Fulton, who then granted Ogden to run his steamboat in the waters. Gibbons had a federal license to travel U.S. waters and argued that the New York legislature’s decision to allow a monopoly over its waters was inconsistent with Congress’ powers under the Commerce Clause. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Congress’ power to regulate commerce includes the power to regulate navigation, the power does not stop at state borders, an ...