Citation370 F. Supp. 247 (D. Me. 1973)Brief Fact Summary. The defendant tanker ship struck a large rock, causing it to spill 100,000 gallons of oil into the bay relied upon by the plaintiff class for their livelihoods. Synopsis of Rule of Law. In cases of public nuisance, one must show that he was specially injured by the interference with the public right in order to recover. ...
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BV Nederlandse Industrie Van Eiprodukten v. Rembrandt Enterprises, Inc.
Citation. [2019] EWCA Civ 596 Brief Fact Summary. The plaintiff, a US company, contracted with the defendant, a Netherlands-based company, for the supply of egg products during the avian flu epidemic in the US. The defendant company after forming the first contract with the plaintiff raised its prices in order to cover the costs of compliance with US regulations. The plaintiff agreed to the price increase, forming a second contract. The plaintiff later alleged that the defendant fraudulently misrepresented the nature of the cost increase, because the increase included the element of p ...
Vieth v. Jubelirer
Citation541 U.S. 267 (2004) Brief Fact Summary. The Pennsylvania General Assembly drew a new districting map for Congressional representation. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Political gerrymandering claims are not justiciable as violations of Article I, § 2, Article I, § 4, or the Equal Protection Clause. ...
United States v. Lopez
Citation514 U.S. 549 (1995) Brief Fact Summary. Defendent was charged with violating the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, which prohibited the carrying of firearms in school zones. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Supreme Court identified three categories of activities that Congress could regulate under the Commerce Clause: (1) the use of the channels of interstate commerce, (2) the instrumentalities of interstate commerce, and (3) activities having a substantial relation to interstate commerce. The Commerce Clause does not give Congress the power to ...
Strauder v. West Virginia
Citation. 100 U.S. (10 Otto) 303 (1879) Brief Fact Summary. The petitioner argued that his constitutional rights were denied 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. ...
Skinner v. State of Oklahoma
Citation316 U.S. 535 (1942) Brief Fact Summary. Petitioner, convicted of the crime of stealing chickens and of robbery with firearms, claims that the Oklahoma statute that allows courts to make a judgment that renders certain criminals sexually sterile violates the Fourteenth Amendment. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A State is not constrained in the exercise of its police power to ignore experience which marks a class of offenders or a family of offenses for special treatment nor is it prevented by the Equal Protection Clause from confining its restrictions to ...
Shelley v. Kraemer
Citation334 U.S. 1 (1948) Brief Fact Summary. Petitioners Shelley and others, black individuals, received property from Fitzgerald a warranty deed to the property in question but the owners of the property sought to take the possession back pursuant to the terms of the restrictive covenant. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The action of state courts in imposing penalties or depriving parties of other substantive rights without providing adequate notice and opportunity to defend, has long been regarded as a denial of the due process of law guaranteed by ...
Planned Parenthood v. Casey
Citation505 U.S. 833 (1992) Brief Fact Summary. The Pennsylvania’s abortion law states that no physician shall perform an abortion on a married woman without receiving a signed statement from the woman that she has notified her spouse that she is about to undergo an abortion. The petitioner challenged the law. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Subsequent to vitality, the State in promoting its interest in the potentiality of human life may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except where it is necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the ...
NFIB v. Sebelius (on the Commerce Clause)
Citation132 S. Ct. 2566 (2012) Brief Fact Summary. Congress passed a law requiring individuals to maintain health care. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The individual mandate provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) 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. ...
Medellin v. Texas
Citation. 552 U.S 491 (2008) Brief Fact Summary. The International Court of Justice held that 51 Mexican nationals convicted and sentenced in Texas state courts were entitled to review of their convictions under the Vienna Convention. A Texas law barred subsequent habeas corpus petitions. In light of the ICJ’s order, the President issued a memorandum ordering state courts to give effect to the ICJ holding. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The President does not have the unilateral authority to make the treaty obligations of a non-self-executing treaty binding upon domes ...
Mathews v. Eldridge
Citation424 U.S. 319 (1976) Brief Fact Summary. Respondent Eldridge challenged the constitutional validity of the administrative procedures established by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare for assessing whether there exists a continuing disability. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Procedural due process imposes constraints on governmental decisions which deprive individuals of liberty or property interests within the meaning of the Due Process of the Fifth Amendment. ...
Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee
Citation. 14 U.S. (1 Wheat.) 304 (1816) Brief Fact Summary. In a land dispute case, the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Court of Appeals of Virginia. The Court of Appeals refused to obey the Supreme Court ruling, arguing that the Supreme Court did not have appellate jurisdiction over state courts. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The U.S. Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction over state courts. The federal law establishing this jurisdiction—Section 25 of the Judiciary Act of 1789—was not unconstitutional. ...
Marbury v. Madison
Citation. 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803) Brief Fact Summary. Secretary of state James Madison failed to deliver commissions to individuals appointed to justice of the peace positions by the previous administration. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Supreme Court has the power of judicial review. ...
Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States
Citation379 U.S. 241 (1964) Brief Fact Summary. The Heart of Atlanta Motel refused to rent rooms to Black people in violation of Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Congress can prohibit hotels and motels from racially discriminating against patrons pursuant to the Commerce Clause. Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not violate the Constitution. ...
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. ...
Gonzales v. Raich
Citation545 U.S. 1 (2005) Brief Fact Summary. California residents challenged the federal Controlled Substances Act that prevents them from possessing, obtaining, or manufacturing cannabis for their personal medical use. California allows the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Synopsis of Rule of Law. California residents challenged the federal Controlled Substances Act that prevents them from possessing, obtaining, or manufacturing cannabis for their personal medical use. California allows the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. ...
Gonzales v. Carhart
Citation550 U.S. 124 (2007) Brief Fact Summary. Respondent challenged that federal act that bans abortions that involve partial delivery of a living fetus. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Where the State has rational basis to act, and does not impose an undue burden, the State may use its regulatory power to bar certain procedures and substitute others, all in furtherance of its legitimate interests in regulating the medical profession to promote respect for life, including life of the unborn. ...
Geier v. American Honda Motor Company
Citation529 U.S. 861 (2000) Brief Fact Summary. Geier sued in tort, claiming American Honda had designed the car negligently and defectively by not providing a driver’s side airbag. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Where the rule of law for which petitioners contend would have stood as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the important means-related federal objectives, the petitioners may not bring that claim. ...
Ex Parte McCardle
Citation. 74 U.S. (7 Wall.) 506 (1869) Brief Fact Summary. Congress repealed a law that granted the Supreme Court appellate jurisdiction over habeas corpus cases. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Congress can repeal jurisdiction it grants to the Supreme Court. ...
Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill
Citation470 U.S. 532 (1985) Brief Fact Summary. Pursuant to the Ohio law, the respondent argued that the Board’s decision to fire him without a cause and its refusal to review the discharge violates the law. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Property interests are not created by the Constitution, they are created and their dimensions are defined by existing rules or understandings that stem from an independent source such as state law. ...
Bond v. United States
Citation134 S. Ct. 2077 (2014) Brief Fact Summary. Defendant was charged under the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act of 1998 for possessing and using a chemical to cause her personal foe to develop an uncomfortable rash. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act of 1998 was unconstitutionally unclear. ...
Baker v. Carr
Citation369 U.S. 186 (1962) Brief Fact Summary. Complainants challenged the constitutionality of an apportionment statute. Synopsis of Rule of Law. There are six circumstances that may describe a political question: (1) a demonstrable constitutional commitment on the issue to a certain political department; (2) a lack of judicially discoverable and manageable standards for resolving the issue; (3) impossibility of deciding the issue without a policy determination that is clearly for nonjudicial discretion; (4) the impossibility of a court’s undertaking ind ...
M.L.B. v. S.L.J.
Citation519 U.S. 102 (1996) Brief Fact Summary. A Mississippi Chancery Court ordered petitioner M.L.B’s parental rights to her two minor children forever terminated. M.L.B sought to appeal from the termination decree, but the State of Mississippi required her to pay record preparation fees of approximately $2,352. She lacked funds to pay the fees and her appeal was dismissed. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Neither the Due Process Clause nor the Equal Protection Clause requires a State to provide counsel at state expense to an indigent prisone ...
Kelo v. City of New London
Citation545 U.S. 469 (2005) Brief Fact Summary. The petitioners whose properties in the city of London were taken by the city for its development plan sued the city. There is no allegation that these properties were blighted or in poor condition. They were condemned only because they happen to be located in the development area. The City’s development plan was not adopted to benefit a particular class of identifiable individuals. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A State may transfer property from one private party to another if future use by the public ...
Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections
Citation383 U.S. 663 (1966) Brief Fact Summary. The petitioner challenged the Virginia’s requirement of paying tax on all residents over 21 to be eligible for voting. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A State violates equal protection whenever it makes the affluence of the voter or payment of any fee an electoral standard. ...