Citation543 U.S. 499 (2005) Brief Fact Summary. The California Department of Corrections had a policy of racially segregating prisoners. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Strict scrunity applies to all racial classifications, even those that purportedly do not benefit or burden any particular group. ...
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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. ...
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Citation. 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1856) Brief Fact Summary. Dred Scott, a black slave, claimed that he is entitled to freedom when his master died. Emerson’s widow refused his freedom. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Each State may confer rights and privileges upon an alien, or any one it thinks proper, or upon any class or description of persons; yet that individual would not be a citizen in the sense in which that word is used in the Constitution of the United States, nor entitled to sue as such in one of its courts. ...
DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services
Citation489 U.S. 189 (1989) Brief Fact Summary. Petitioner is a boy who was beaten and permanently injured by his father, with whom he lived. Respondents are social workers and other local officials who received complaints that petitioner was being abused by his father and had reason to believe that this was the case, but nonetheless did not act to remove petitioner from his father’s custody. Petitioner sued respondents claiming that their failure to act deprived him of his liberty in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Synopsi ...
Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health
Citation497 U.S. 261 (1990) Brief Fact Summary. Cruzan was made incompetent due to severe injuries sustained during an automobile accident. Her parents requested a court to order the withdrawal of their daughter’s artificial feeding and hydration equipment when Cruzan had virtually no chance of recovering her cognitive faculties. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A State is entitled to guard against potential abuses in unfortunate situations in which family members will not act to protect a patient. ...
Clinton v. Jones
Citation520 U.S. 681 (1997) Brief Fact Summary. Corbin Jones filed a civil lawsuit against President Clinton while he held office. The lawsuit was based on acts that occured before he was elected, and were unrelated to his official duties as president. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The doctrine of separation of powers does not require the President to be immune from civil actions arising out of his unofficial acts. ...
City of Boerne v. Flores
Citation521 U.S. 507 (1997) Brief Fact Summary. A decision by local zoning authorities to deny a church a building permit was challenged under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. Synopsis of Rule of Law. There must be a congruence and proportionality between the injury to be prevented or remedied and the means adopted to that end. Lacking such a connection, legislation may become substantive in operation and effect.a ...
Bowsher v. Synar
Citation. 478 U.S. 714 1986 Brief Fact Summary. Congress passed an Act to reduce the federal budget deficit. The Act authorized the President to act based on the conclusions of the Comptroller General. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Congress could not delegate executive authority to a federal officer who could be removed at Congress’ discretion. The power assigned to the Comptroller General under the Act was executive because the Act directed him to interpret laws of Congress to implement the legislative mandate. ...
Young v. American Mini Theaters
Citation427 U.S. 50 (1976) Brief Fact Summary. The operators of two adult motion picture theaters challenged the Detroit ordinance that required adult movie theaters not located near residential areas or regulated uses. The city argued that the ordinance was necessary because the location of several regulated uses in the same neighborhood has attracted undesirable transients, adversely affecting property values and increasing crime. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Government may not tell the citizen what he may or may not say. ...
Sable Communications, Inc. v. FCC
Citation492 U.S. 115 (1989) Brief Fact Summary. Sable challenged the congressional act that criminally prohibits obscene or indecent telephone messages. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Sexual expression that is indecent but not obscene is protected by the First Amendment. The Government may regulate the content of constitutionally protected speech to promote a compelling interest if it chooses the least restrictive means to further the alleged interest. ...
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan
Citation376 U.S. 254 (1964) Brief Fact Summary. Sullivan, the police commissioner, sued New York Times and several black clergymen who had singed the advertisement that dealt with the existence of “an unprecedented wave of terror” against blacks engaged in nonviolent demonstrations in the South. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The constitutional guarantees require a federal rule that prohibits a public official from recovering damages for a defamatory falsehood relating to his official conduct unless he proves that the statement was made with “act ...
National Federation of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra
Citation138 S. Ct. 2361 (2018) Brief Fact Summary. The California Act that required licensed clinics that primarily serve pregnant women to notify patients that California offers free medical and unlicensed clinics to notify patients that they are not licensed to provide medical services. The Act was challenged by crisis pregnancy centers that aimed to discourage women from obtaining abortions. Synopsis of Rule of Law. States may regulate professional conduct, even though that conduct incidentally involves speech. ...
Morrison v. Olson
Citation487 U.S. 654 (1988) Brief Fact Summary. Olson, the Solicitor General, moved to quash the investigation of the independent counsel on the ground that the Act was unconstitutional. Olson argues that even if the independent counsel was an inferior officer, the Constitution does not permit Congress to place the power to appoint outside the Executive Branch. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Vesting of an appointment power in the courts would be improper if there was some incongruity between the functions normally performed by the courts and the perf ...
Matal v. Tam
Citation137 S. Ct. 1744, 198 L. Ed. 2d 366 (2017) Brief Fact Summary. Simon Tam was the lead singer of dance-rock band called “The Slants”, in which the members were consisted of Asian-Americans. Tam chose the band name to reclaim the anti-Asian slur. He applied for the registration of the mark “THE SLANTS” from the Patent and Trademark Office, but was denied under a Lanham Act provision prohibiting the registration of trademarks that may “disparage or bring into contempt or disrepute” any “persons.” Synopsis of Rule of Law. A l ...
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 ...
Grutter v. Bollinger
Citation539 U.S. 306 (2003) Brief Fact Summary. The University of Michigan Law School has had a long-standing commitment to promote racial and ethnic diversity with special reference to the inclusion of minority students from historically discriminated groups. The petitioner, a white Michigan resident with decent test scores, applied to the law school but her application was rejected. She sued alleging discrimination against her on the basis of race in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Synopsis of Rule of Law. All racial classifications imp ...
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Citation. 19 How. (60 U.S.) 393, 15 L. Ed. 691 (1857) Brief Fact Summary. Dred Scott, a slave belonging to a U.S army surgeon, Emerson, claimed his freedom when Emerson died. Emerson’s widow, however, refused his freedom and Scott sued. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The act of Congress which prohibited a citizen from holding and owning property is not warranted by the Constitution because it deprives the slaveholders of their property without due process of law. ...
Dames & Moore v. Regan
Citation453 U.S. 654 (1981) Brief Fact Summary. The petitioner sued in the U.S district court against the Iranian government and other entities alleging that its wholly owned subsidiary was in a contract with the Iranian entity and the subsidiary’s entire interest in the contract was assigned to the petitioner. However, the U.S made an agreement with the Iranian government to terminate all legal proceedings in U.S courts involving claims of U.S persons against Iran and its enterprises for the return of hostage. Synopsis of Rule of Law. ...
C&A Carbone, Inc. v. Clarkstown
Citation511 U.S. 383 (1994) Brief Fact Summary. The town of Clarkstown in New York adopted the flow control ordinance requiring all nonhazardous solid waste within the town to be deposited at the transfer station. The petitioner, who sought to ship its nonrecyclable waste to cheaper processors outside the state rather than to the new facility as required, challenged the ordinance. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Discrimination against interstate commerce in favor of local business or investment is per se invalid. ...
Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Ass’n
Citation564 U.S. 786 (2011) Brief Fact Summary. The respondent challenged a California statute that prohibited the sale or rental to minors of violent video games. Synopsis of Rule of Law. Minors are entitled to a significant measure of First Amendment protection, and only in relatively narrow and well-defined circumstances may the Government prohibit public dissemination of protected materials to them. ...
Boy Scouts of America v. Dale
Citation530 U.S. 640 (2000) Brief Fact Summary. The Court upheld the First Amendment expressive association right of the Boy Scouts to exclude James Dale on the ground that he had publicly disclosed his homosexuality. The Court held that New Jersey may not apply its public accommodations law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation to require the Boy Scouts to admit Dale. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The forced inclusion of an unwanted person in a group infringes the group’s freedom of expressive association if the presence of th ...
Beauharnais v. Illinois
Citation343 U.S. 250 (1956) Brief Fact Summary. The petitioner, who led the circulation of leaflet that involved racial remark against the blacks, was convicted under an Illinois criminal group libel law prohibiting the publishing, selling, or exhibiting in any public place of any publication which “portrays depravity, criminality, or lack of virtue of a class of citizens, of any race, color, creed or religion … or which exposes the citizens of any race, color, religion to contempt or derision. Synopsis of Rule of Law. If an utterance direct ...
Bartnicki v. Vopper
Citation532 U.S. 514 (2001) Brief Fact Summary. The respondents filed complaint for damages against the radio broadcasters and their local citizen informant for intercepting their conversation over the phone and airing it through the radio. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The press shall have the right to publish information of great public concern obtained from documents stolen by a third party. ...
Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc.
Citation501 U.S. 560 (1991) Brief Fact Summary. Respondents object to enforcement of a public indecency statute providing that “a person who knowingly or intentionally, in a public place, appears in a state of nudity commits public indecency, a misdemeanor and defining nudity as showing of the human male or female genitals, public area with less than a fully opaque covering.” Respondents claimed that Indiana’s prohibition against complete nudity in public places violated the First Amendment. Synopsis of Rule of Law. A statute that seek ...
Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International, Inc.
Citation570 U.S. 205 (2013) Brief Fact Summary. Respondents, a group of domestic organizations engaged in combating HIV/AIDS overseas, feared that adopting a policy explicitly opposing prostitution may alienate certain governments and may diminish the effectiveness of some of their programs by making it more difficult to work with prostitutes in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Respondents sought a preliminary injunction barring the Government from cutting off their funding under the Act. Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Government may not deny a benefit ...