Citation531 U.S. 98 (2000) Brief Fact Summary. . Synopsis of Rule of Law. Under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, states cannot value some votes over others by arbitrary and disparate treatment. Harper v. Virginia Bd. of Elections, 383 U.S. 663, 665 (1966). Under3 U.S.C. § 5, states can resolve controversies pursuant to existing law so long as they do so six days before electors meet. ...
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Clapper v. Amnesty International USA
Citation133 S. Ct. 1138 (2013) Brief Fact Summary. A federal law authorized the government to surveil people who were not “United States persons” and were reasonably believed to be outside of the United States. Respondents were individuals and and organizations that worked with people whom the government might surveil under this law. They sued the government, arguing that the law is unconstitutional. Synopsis of Rule of Law. To have standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, a claimant’s threatened injury must be certainly impending and fairl ...
Massachusetts v. EPA
Citation549 U.S. 497 (2007) Brief Fact Summary. The plaintiffs sued the EPA, arguing that its failure to regulate motor vehicle emissions violated the Clean Air Act. The EPA argued that Plaintiffs lacked standing. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Under Supreme Court precedent, and as articulated in Lujuan, a claimant must show that she has suffered a concrete and particularized injury that is actual or imminent, that the injury is fairly traceable to the defendant, and that it is likely that a favorable decision will redress that injury. The Court cited ...
National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (On the Commerce Clause)
Citation567 U.S. 519 (2012) Brief Fact Summary. Congress passed a law requiring all Americans to maintain health care. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The individual mandate provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was an invalid exercise of the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause. By requiring individuals to purchase health insurance, the government was not regulating commerce, but creating it. ...
National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (On the Spending Power)
Citation. 567 U.S. 519 (2012) Brief Fact Summary. The ACA required states to expand Medicaid coverage to more of their residents. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The ACA’s Medicaid expansion provision was not authorized under the Spending Power, because it coerced states into accepting a federal policy by threatening to withhold all of their Medicaid funds. ...
National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (On the Tax Power)
Citation. 567 U.S. 519 (2012) Brief Fact Summary. Congress passed the ACA, which included a provision that required all Americans to maintain health insurance or be charged a penalty. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The ACA’s individual mandate penalty is a valid tax. ...
Slaughter-House Cases
Citation. 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 36, 21 L.Ed. 394 (1873). Brief Fact Summary. The Louisiana legislature and the city of New Orleans had established a corporation charged with regulating the slaughterhouse industry, effectively giving it exclusive rights to the New Orleans slaughterhouse business. A group of butchers sued. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Privileges or Immunities Clause only protects the legal rights that are associated with federal citizenship, not those that pertain to state citizenship. ...
Rust v. Sullivan
Citation500 U.S. 173, 111 S.Ct. 1759, 114 L.Ed.2d 233 (1991). Brief Fact Summary. The federal government provided funds for family planning services through Title X. The Department of Health and Human Services issued regulations that prohibited projects receiving these funds from abortion-related activities. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The government may choose not to subsidize certain speech. ...
Plessy v. Ferguson
Citation163 U.S. 537, 16 S.Ct. 1138, 41 L.Ed.256 (1896). Brief Fact Summary. An 1890 Louisiana law required that railway passenger cars have “equal but separate accommodations” for blacks and whites. Plessy was arrested for refusing to vacate a seat in a “whites only” car of a Louisiana train. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Racial segregation is not unlawful discrimination, so long as accommodations are “separate but equal.” ...
National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius
Citation567 U.S. 519, 132 S.Ct. 2566, 183 L.Ed.2d 450 (2012). Brief Fact Summary. The constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act was challenged by an attack on the individual mandate, requiring individuals to purchase minimal essential health insurance coverage. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The individual mandate portion of the Affordable Care Act, requiring individuals to purchase a health insurance policy providing a minimum level of coverage or else face a penalty, is a tax and therefore does not violate the Constitution. ...
Lee v. International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc.
Citation505 U.S. 830, 112 S.Ct. 2709, 120 L.Ed.2d 669 (1992) Brief Fact Summary. Members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a nonprofit religious corporation, performs a ritual called sankirtan, which involves soliciting funds and distributing literature in public places. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey adopted a regulation forbidding within the terminals the repetitive solicitation of money or distribution of literature. ISKCON brought suit challenging the regulation. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Banning the distribut ...
Justice Holmes–Dissenting in Abrams v. United States
Citation250 U.S. 616, 624, 40 S.Ct. 17, 20, 63 L.Ed. 1173, 1178 (1919). Brief Fact Summary. During WWI, Abrams and his colleagues distributed leaflets supporting Russia against the U.S. and calling upon workers to unite in a general strike. They were convicted for violating the 1917 Espionage Act. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The application of the 1917 Espionage Act in this case does not violate the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. ...
International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Lee
Citation505 U.S. 672, 112 S.Ct. 2701, 120 L.Ed.2d 541 (1992). Brief Fact Summary. Members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a nonprofit religious corporation, performs a ritual called sankirtan, which involves soliciting funds and distributing literature in public places. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey adopted a regulation forbidding within the terminals the repetitive solicitation of money or distribution of literature. ISKCON brought suit challenging the regulation. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Regulations prohibit ...
Houston, East & West Texas Ry. v. United States
Citation234 U.S. 342, 34 S.Ct. 833, 58 L.Ed. 1341 (1914). Brief Fact Summary. The government brought suit against railway companies in Texas who were charging lower rates for intrastate shipments and higher rates for out-of-state shipments. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Congress may control intrastate commerce in order to protect interstate commerce. ...
Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. Amos
Citation483 U.S. 327, 107 S.Ct. 2862, 97 L.Ed.2d 273 (1987). Brief Fact Summary. Mayson was employed by and subsequently fired by the Deseret Gymnasium (Gymnasium), run by the Mormon Church, because he failed to qualify for a certificate that he is a member of the Church and eligible to attend its temples. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Religious organizations can discriminate based on religion, whereas secular organizations and businesses cannot. ...
Bush v. Gore
Citation531 U.S. 98, 121 S.Ct. 525, 148 L.Ed.2d 388 (2000). Brief Fact Summary. In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed a Florida Supreme Court request for a selective manual recount of that state’s U.S. presidential election ballots in regards to the 2000 presidential election. The decision effectively awarded Florida’s 25 electoral votes–and thus the election itself–to Republican candidate George W. Bush. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Where the results of a presidential election are contested, the Equal Protection Clause requires states to ma ...
Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp.
Citation429 U.S. 252 (1977) Brief Fact Summary. MHDC wanted to rezone a parcel of land. Arlington denied its application, and MHDC filed a lawsuit in federal court, claiming that Arlington violated the Fourteenth Amendment and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A plaintiff claiming an equal protection violation must show both discriminatory impact and discriminatory intent. ...
Rucho v. Common Cause
Citation139 S. Ct. 2484 (2019) Brief Fact Summary. The plaintiffs in North Carolina and Maryland challenged their States’ congressional districting maps as unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Article III limits federal courts to to deciding cases and controversies. It is “the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.” ...
Plessy v. Ferguson
Citation163 U.S. 537 (1896) Brief Fact Summary. The State of Louisiana passed a law, which provided equal but separate accommodations for the white and other races and that no person shall occupy seats in couches, other than ones assigned to them on account of the race they belong to. The petitioner with one-eight African blood took a seat that belonged to the white. He was ordered to vacate the couch and when he refused, he was ejected and imprisoned. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees the absolute equality of different races befo ...
Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency
Citation. 549 U.S 497 (2007) Brief Fact Summary. A group of states and local governments alleged that EPA has abdicated it responsibility to regulate the emission of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. EPA questioned the petitioners’ standing to invoke the court’s jurisdiction under Article III. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Injury is a core requirement of Article III of the Constitution for there to be a case or controversy. Under Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, a plaintiff must demonstrate that it has suffered a concrete and particularized injury that is actual ...
Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31
Citation138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018) Brief Fact Summary. Petitioner, a public employee of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, works as a child support specialist. The petitioner with 35,000 other employees, who are represented by the respondent American Federation of State, County, Municipal Employees, Council 31 (Union), refused to join the Union because he opposed the Union’s public policies and also refused to pay fees. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Freedom of speech “includes both the right to speak freely and the right to refrain from s ...
Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin
Citation136 S. Ct. 2196 (2016) Brief Fact Summary. Fisher argued that UT did not meet the Court’s requirements on remand from Fisher I. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Diversity is a compelling interest for a state university. Means to achieving it be narrowly tailored. ...
Bush v. Gore
Citation531 U.S. 98 (2000) Brief Fact Summary. Governor Bush and Richard Cheney requested to the court for a stay of the Supreme Court of Florida’s mandate– the Circuit Court of Leon County tabulate by hand 9000 ballots in Miami-Dade County and all Florida counties do manual counts where undervotes had not been subject to manual tabulation. The Circuit Court denied the Governors’ application. The Supreme Court granted certiorari. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Where a State accords arbitrary and disparate treatment to voters in its different counties, that v ...
Boumediene v. Bush
Citation553 U.S. 723 Brief Fact Summary. Some detainees held at Guantanamo Bay sued for the freedom under habeas corpus, but the MCA placed different burdens on habeas corpus proceedings. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Non-citizen detainees have the right to habeas corpus. ...
Janet Alexander Cosmetics v. L’Oreal USA, Inc.
Citation458 F.3d 244 (3d Cir. 2006) Brief Fact Summary. In 1988, L’Oreal began using a trademark with the letters “EQ.” In 1990, JAC began using a mark that also had the letters “EQ.” JAC registered its mark in 1993. In 1996, L’Oreal’s request to register a modernized version of its mark was denied. L’Oreal subsequently filed a petition to cancel JAC’s mark because of the likelihood of confusion between the companies’ marks. In connection with that petition, which was denied, the TTAB also found no likelihood of confusion between any of the marks. L� ...