Ogden v. Saunders , 25 U.S. 213 (decided February 19, 1827): states may legislate to any extent not prohibited by the Constitution and not exclusively the domain of Congress; specifically, Congress’s power to “establish uniform laws on bankruptcies throughout the United States” doesn’t prevent states from creating their own bankruptcy statutes so long as they don’t conflict with federal law and don’t affect contracts in effect before statutes went into effect (a long, long de

Bibles v. Oregon Natural Desert Ass’n , 519 U.S. 355 (decided February 18, 1997): Freedom of Information Act did not entitle environmental group to obtain mailing list of Bureau of Land Management’s newsletter “so that alternative information could be sent to them” Robinson v. Shell Oil Co. , 519 U.S. 337 (decided February 18, 1997): antiretaliation provision of Civil Rights Act of 1964 applied to post-employment actions (here, negative reference given by former employer agai

Brown v. Mississippi , 297 U.S. 278 (decided February 17, 1936): confessions “extorted by brutality and violence” violated Due Process under Fourteenth Amendment (illiterate black men accused of killing white planter were “pre-hanged” to extort confessions; rope marks on their necks were visible at trial) Wesberry v. Sanders , 376 U.S. 1 (decided February 17, 1964): applies “one person, one vote” Equal Protection rule to House of Representatives and invalidates redistricting

Barron v. City of Baltimore , 32 U.S. 243 (decided February 16, 1833): Bill of Rights (here, the Fifth Amendment takings clause) applies only to federal action, not state (Barron could not get compensation for City’s modification of stream which silted up his wharf) (I suppose the Maryland constitution had no takings clause); abrogated by Fourteenth Amendment Fisher v. Hurst , 333 U.S. 147 (decided February 16, 1948): In Sipuel v. Board of Regents , 1948 (see January 12), the

Oakes v. Mase , 165 U.S. 363 (decided February 15, 1897): vacating judgment for engineer’s estate because negligence causing his death (a switch left open) was caused by conductor on another train who was a “fellow servant” (this was before the Federal Employers’ Liability Act was passed in 1908); Montana had a statute allowing corporate liability for acts of fellow servants but Court is bound by Montana Supreme Court’s ruling that statute violated state constitution Missouri

Reynolds v. Atlantic Coast Line R.R. Co. , 336 U.S. 207 (decided February 14, 1949): failure to clear sugar cane plants from railbed (this was Alabama) which required brakeman to cross from caboose to seventh instead of to usual sixth car to give signal was not proximate cause of his falling to his death while crossing from sixth to seventh car Dobson v. Comm’r of Internal Revenue , 321 U.S. 231 (decided February 14, 1944): “Not every gain growing out of a transaction concern

Strawbridge v. Curtiss , 7 U.S. 267 (decided February 13, 1806): Out of this pedantic seed grew upwards of two hundred years of ridiculously wasteful procedural litigation.  Marshall holds that federal court jurisdiction “between a citizen of a state and a citizen of another state”, under the Judiciary Act of 1789, means that in a diversity action every plaintiff must be from a different state from every defendant.  The Constitution itself says only “between citizens of diffe

Chambers v. Florida , 309 U.S. 227 (decided February 12, 1940): black suspects (robbery of white man) kept in jail for six days, denied visitors, and subject to persistent questioning, were denied Due Process and confessions were inadmissible Federal Housing Administration v. Burr , 309 U.S. 242 (decided February 12, 1940): statute allowing Federal Housing Administration to “sue and be sued” allows garnishment claim by creditor on FHA employee’s wages United States v. Fullard

Jaffree v. Board of School Comm’rs of Mobile County , 459 U.S. 1314 (decided February 11, 1983): staying District Court order allowing reciting of Lord’s Prayer as part of morning school activities; District Court judge has to follow Supreme Court precedent even if he disagrees with it (the District Court decision, 554 F.Supp. 1104, reads like a manifesto attacking Supreme Court case law, citing invocations of God by the Founding Fathers, the Pledge of Allegiance, etc.) (the

Everson v. Board of Education , 330 U.S. 1 (decided February 10, 1947): upholds against Establishment Clause and Due Process attack statute allowing reimbursement of parents for costs of busing to both public and Catholic schools (if you wonder why “bused” and “busing” don’t have double s’s, remember that there is a word “buss” which means to kiss -- in my view any racial segregation situation would have been improved by replacing “busing” with “bussing”) Borden’s Farm Produc

United States v. Lane Motor Co. , 344 U.S. 630 (decided February 9, 1953): truck used solely to commute to illegal distillery is not “property intended for use in violating alcohol tax laws” and hence can’t be seized and forfeited by the IRS Musser v. Utah , 333 U.S. 95 (decided February 9, 1948): Utah statute prohibited conduct “injurious to public morals”.  Appeal from conviction for counseling people to enter into polygamous relationships (this is Utah).  The Court notes t

Irvine v. California , 347 U.S. 128 (decided February 8, 1953): state (though not federal government) can use illegal means to obtain evidence; defendant still has remedy of suing officers under 42 U.S.C. §1983 (police had locksmith make extra key for door, installed hidden microphone, ran wire through roof, and recorded conversations as to gambling) (though never overruled, this case can’t still be good law) Partmar Corp. v. Paramount Pictures Theatres Corp. , 347 U.S. 89 (d

Tee-Hit-Ton Indians v. United States , 348 U.S. 272 (decided February 7, 1955): Alaskan tribe could not recover from United States value of trees taken from their land because they were “nomadic” and Congress had not recognized their ownership of that land Hepburn v. Griswold , 75 U.S. 603 (decided February 7, 1870): defendant could not pay off promissory note with new paper money created by Congress in Civil War emergency (previously all money was in coin); Due Process viola

District of Columbia v. Gallaher , 124 U.S. 505 (decided February 6, 1888): District of Columbia is bound by post-contract modifications to sewer project (including increased payment) agreed to by predecessor body which was then legislated out of existence (this was the Board of Public Works, which according to Wikipedia spent D.C. almost into bankruptcy; Congress abolished it in 1874) (project turned the open-sewer Tiber Creek into an underground river, like the River Fleet

Queen v. Hepburn , 11 U.S. 290 (decided February 5, 1813): Marshall holds that while hearsay can support a claim to property (for example as to boundaries) it can’t as to freedom; statements of people who were now dead that ancestor of mother and child petitioning for their freedom came from England and not Africa were properly excluded; Duvall, in his only written dissent in 24 years on the Court, points out that hearsay on this issue is allowed in his home state of Maryland

Dice v. Akron, Canton & Youngstown R.R. Co. , 342 U.S. 359 (decided February 4, 1952): release of personal injury defendant sued under Federal Employers’ Liability Act is determined by federal, not state, law and issue of whether release was obtained by fraud is to be tried by a jury Martino v. Michigan Window Cleaning Co. , 327 U.S. 173 (decided February 4, 1946): can sue for inadequate overtime under Fair Labor Standards Act even though union contract allowed it (superseded

Germany v. Philipp , 592 U.S. 169 (decided February 3, 2021): Foreign Sovereignty Immunities Act barred suit in U.S. courts by Holocaust survivors to recover value of property they were forced to sell at below market value to agents of Goering; exception for “property taken in violation of international law” applied to property taken from another country’s citizens, and this was Germany’s own citizens Marshall v. Barlow’s, Inc. , 429 U.S. 1347 (decided February 3, 1977): OSHA

Dartmouth College v. Woodward , 17 U.S. 518 (decided February 2, 1819): state attempt to change existing charter of college to turn it into a public institution violated Contracts Clause; corporate entities are entitled to Clause protection Ross v. Bernhard , 396 U.S. 531 (decided February 2, 1970): I did my law review article on the Seventh Amendment, which guarantees the right to a jury trial in a civil case in actions at law (but not equity).  Stupidly, one has to look at

Marbury v. Madison , 5 U.S. 137 (decided February 1, 1803): Marshall rules that the Court has no original jurisdiction to enforce a judicial appointment which Marshall (as Secretary of State) had failed to get delivered. Marshall was also already Chief Justice at the time.  He should have, of course, recused himself.  This case is cited as the precedent for judicial scrutiny of government acts, but that part of the opinion is dicta, as Marshall later pointed out ( Cohens v. V

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R.R. Co. , 382 U.S. 423 (decided January 31, 1966): Arkansas statute regulating size of train crews survives Dormant Commerce Clause attack (it in effect applied only to intrastate lines) United States v. Shubert , 348 U.S. 222 (decided January 31, 1955): theatrical productions are “interstate commerce” subject to Sherman Act (defendant produced the shows + booked them + operated the theaters, which even de