Citation22 Ill.470 U.S. 373, 105 S. Ct. 1327, 84 L. Ed. 2d 274 (1985) Brief Fact Summary. The Plaintiffs, two orthopedic surgeons (Plaintiffs), sued the Defendant, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (Defendant) alleging they were refused membership in the Academy without a hearing. In the course of discovery, the Plaintiffs asked the Defendant for correspondence and other documents relating to the denial of applications from 1970-1980. Despite a federal court order which would protect the confidentiality of the documents, the Defendant refused to comply and was held in criminal co ...
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Ziervogel v. Royal Packing Co
Citation22 Ill.225 S.W.2d 798 (Mo. Ct. App. 1949) Brief Fact Summary. Plaintiff sued Defendant for personal injuries sustained in a car accident involving Plaintiff and Defendant’s employee. Plaintiff did not plead injury for elevated blood pressure and an injured shoulder but introduced evidence of such injuries at trial. The jury returned a verdict for Plaintiff and Defendant appealed, arguing that Plaintiff could not recover for special damages not contained in the pleadings. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Special damages must either be contained in the pleadings or evidence must be pre ...
Hess v. Pawloski
Citation22 Ill.274 U.S. 352, 47 S. Ct. 632, 71 L. Ed. 1091 (1927) Brief Fact Summary. Plaintiff sued Defendant, a resident of Pennsylvania, for injuries that occurred in a car accident in Massachusetts. A Massachusetts statute stated that driving through Massachusetts constitutes implied consent to have the state registrar accept service of process for non-residents, provided a copy of the summons was sent to the defendant. Defendant objected for lack of personal jurisdiction and eventually appealed a verdict in favor of Plaintiff. Synopsis of Rule of Law. States can require that motorists ...
New York Times Co. v. United States [The Pentagon Papers Case]
Citation403 U.S. 713, 91 S. Ct. 2140, 29 L. Ed. 2d 822, 1971 U.S. Brief Fact Summary. The Supreme Court of the United States (Supreme Court) held that the Government failed to meet the requisite burden of proof needed to justify a prior restraint of expression when attempting to enjoin the New York Times and Washington Post from publishing contents of a classified study. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Any system of prior restraints on expression comes to the Supreme Court bearing a heavy presumption against its invalidity. The Government “thus creates a heavy burden of showing justificati ...
Members of City Council v. Taxpayers for Vincent
Citation466 U.S. 789,104 S. Ct. 2118,80 L. Ed. 2d 772,1984 U.S. Brief Fact Summary. A city law banning the posting of signs on public land was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States (Supreme Court) after finding that the city’s interests were sufficiently substantial to justify the content neutral, impartially administered law. Synopsis of Rule of Law. An incidental restriction on expression is considered justified as a reasonable regulation of the time, place or manner of expression if it is narrowly tailored to serve that interest. ...
F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation
Citation438 U.S. 726, 98 S. Ct. 3026, 57 L. Ed. 2d 1073, 1978 U.S. Brief Fact Summary. The Supreme Court of the United States (Supreme Court) held that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may regulate radio broadcasts that are indecent, but not obscene after the FCC received a complaint from a listener who heard an indecent broadcast while driving with his son. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A broadcast of patently offensive words dealing with sex and excretion may, under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution (Constitution), be regulated because of its content since such w ...
Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton
Citation419 U.S. 887; 95 S. Ct. 162;42 L. Ed. 2d 133; 1974 U.S. Brief Fact Summary. This is an appeal by an owner of two adult theatres that explicitly warned viewers that the content of its movies may be offensive and required all viewers to be twenty-one years of age. The owner was enjoined from showing his movies by the state supreme court. Synopsis of Rule of Law. States have a legitimate interest in regulating commerce of obscene material and in regulating exhibition of obscene material in places of public accommodation, including so-called “adult” theatres from which minor ...
R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul
Citation505 U.S. 377, 112 S. Ct. 2538, 120 L. Ed. 2d 305, 1992 U.S. Brief Fact Summary. St. Paul’s Bias-Motivated Crime Ordinance (the Ordinance) was held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States (Supreme Court) because it was substantially overbroad and impermissibly content-based. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Content-based restrictions, as well as point-of-view restrictions, are presumably invalid. ...
Masses Publishing Co. v. Patten
Citation244 F. 535,1917 U.S. Dist. View this case and other resources at: Brief Fact Summary. This World War One case decided by Judge Learned Hand held that Plaintiff, Masses Publishing Co’s (Plaintiff), magazine company did not violate the Espionage Act of 1917 (the Act) by publishing text and cartoons critical of the war. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Words that counsel or advise a man to act and thereby urge upon him that it is his interest or duty to act are punishable. ...
Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority
Citation365 U.S. 715,81 S. Ct. 856,6 L. Ed. 2d 45,1961 U.S. Brief Fact Summary. A restaurant owner who refused to serve the Appellant, Burton (Appellant), food based on his race was held by the Supreme Court of the United States (Supreme Court) to be a state actor because he leased his restaurant space from the state. The building was designed for public use and service and the building had state symbols. Synopsis of Rule of Law. It has always been clear that since the [Civil Rights Cases], private conduct abridging individual rights does no violence to equal protection unless to some signi ...
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey
Citation510 U.S. 1309; 114 S. Ct. 909,127 L. Ed. 2d 352,1994 U.S. Brief Fact Summary. Although the other challenged provisions of the Act were upheld, the provision in the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act of 1982 requiring a married woman, except in limited circumstances, to notify her husband before having an abortion was held unconstitutional. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Supreme Court of the United States rejected the trimester framework of Roe v. Wade and employed a new “undue burden” test that invalidates a provision of a law if its purpose or effect is to place a substant ...
Pacific Gas & Elec. Co. v. State Energy Resources Conservation & Development Comm’n
Citation461 U.S. 190, 103 S. Ct. 1713, 75 L. Ed. 2d 752, 18 ERC 1991 (1983) Brief Fact Summary. The Supreme Court of the United States held that a California law imposing a suspension on the certification of nuclear energy plants within the state until the Defendant, State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, approves of the means for disposal of the waste was not preempted by the federal Atomic Energy Act of 1954. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The doctrine of preemption allows Congress to preempt state power to regulate in three ways: 1) by express statement; 2) by implied ...
Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona
Citation359 U.S. 532; 79 S. Ct. 1136;3 L. Ed. 2d 1028; 1959 U.S. Brief Fact Summary. The 1912 Arizona Train Limit Law, which prohibited the operation of railroad trains longer than fourteen passenger or seventy freight cars, was found invalid by the Supreme Court of the United States because it violated the commerce clause. The law impeded the free flow of commerce by only allowing shorter trains within its borders. Synopsis of Rule of Law. If a state law’s burden of commerce outweighs the regulatory advantage to the state, the law violates the commerce clause, and is therefore invali ...
Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority
Citation365 U.S. 715, 81 S. Ct. 856, 6 L. Ed. 2d 45, 1961 U.S. 1297. Brief Fact Summary. The Appellant, Burton (Appellant), brought an action under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution (Constitution), claiming he was discriminated against because the Appellees, the Wilmington Parking Authority and the Eagle Coffee Shoppe, Inc. (Appellees), refused to serve him in their restaurant based solely on the Appellant’s race. The Appellant claims there is state action sufficient to bring a Fourteenth Amendment claim, as the Eagle Coffee Shopp ...
Employment Division, Department of Human Resources v. Smith
Citation494 U.S. 872, 110 S. Ct. 1595, 108 L. Ed. 2d 876, 1990 U.S. 2021. Brief Fact Summary. The Respondent, Smith (Respondent), sought unemployment compensation benefits after he was fired from his job for using peyote in a religious ceremony. The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that the Respondent should be awarded unemployment compensation as his right to free exercise of religion was violated. The Petitioner, the Employment Division, Department of Human Resources (Petitioner), appeal the case. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The right of free exercise does not relive an individual of the obligatio ...
Richmond Newspapers v. Virginia
Citation448 U.S. 555, 100 S. Ct. 2814, 65 L. Ed. 2d 973, 1980 U.S. 18. Brief Fact Summary. The Appellant, Richmond Newspapers (Appellant), moves to have a judicial order for closure of a criminal trial to the press and the public overturned as a violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution (Constitution). Synopsis of Rule of Law. The First Amendment of the Constitution guarantees both the public and the press a right to attend criminal trials. However, this right is not absolute and may be outweighed where the judge finds an overriding interest that cannot be accommoda ...
Police Department of Chicago v. Mosley
Citation408 U.S. 92, 92 S. Ct. 2286, 33 L. Ed. 2d 212, 1972 U.S. 133. Brief Fact Summary. The Respondent, Earl Mosely (Respondent), was convicted on a charge of disorderly conduct stemming from his picketing of Jones Commercial High School, in violation of a Chicago ordinance outlawing his conduct, but permitting the picketing of any school involved in a labor dispute. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The government may not grant the use of a forum to people whose views it finds acceptable, but deny use to those wishing to express less favored or more controversial views and it may not select which ...
R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul
Citation505 U.S. 377, 112 S. Ct. 2538, 120 L. Ed. 2d 305, 1992 U.S. 3863. Brief Fact Summary. After allegedly burning a cross on a black family’s lawn, the Petitioner, R.A.V. (Petitioner) a teenager, was charged under the St. Paul, Minnesota, Bias-Motivated Crime Ordinance (the Ordinance), which prohibits the display of a burning cross, swastika or other symbol that one knows or has reason to know “arouses anger, alarm or resentment in others” on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A content-based distinction within a category of e ...
FCC v. Pacifica Foundation
Citation438 U.S. 726, 98 S. Ct. 3026, 57 L. Ed. 2d 1073, 1978 U.S. 135. Brief Fact Summary. A satiric humorist named George Carlin (Carlin) recorded a 12-minute monologue entitled “Filthy Words” before a live audience in a California theatre. Carlin began by referring to his thoughts about the words that could not be said on the public airwaves. Then, Carlin proceeded to list those words and repeat them over and over again. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The concept of indecent is intimately connected with the exposure of children to language that describes, in terms patently offensiv ...
Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton
Citation413 U.S. 49, 93 S. Ct. 2628, 37 L. Ed. 2d 446, 1973 U.S. 19. Brief Fact Summary. The Petitioners are two Atlanta movie theatres and their owners and managers (Petitioners), operating in the style of “adult” theatres. The theatres have a conventional, inoffensive entrance, without any pictures, but with signs indicating that the theatres exhibit “Atlanta’s Finest Mature Feature Films.” On the door is a sign saying “Adult Theatre-You must be 21 and able to prove it. If viewing nude body offends you, Please Do Not Enter.” Synopsis of Rule of Law ...
Masses Publishing Co. v. Patten
Citation244 F. 535, 1917 U.S. Dist. 1066. View this case and other resources at: ...
Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health
Citation497 U.S. 261, 110 S. Ct. 2841, 111 L. Ed. 2d 224, 1990 U.S. Brief Fact Summary. Nancy Cruzan was involved in a car accident, which left her in a “persistent vegetative state.” After it became clear that Cruzan would not improve, her parents requested that the hospital terminate the life-support procedures the hospital was providing. The hospital and subsequently the State court refused to comply. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A State may condition the exercise of a patient’s right to terminate life-sustaining treatment on a showing of clear and convincing evidenc ...