Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (decided May 18, 1896): the notorious “separate but equal” decision: segregated train cars are not denial of Equal Protection; black people were not denied transportation because they had their own cars (Harlan, in dissent, famously decries “the damage this day done”; he also says that the white race would always dominate, which my Con Law professor took as a declaration of racism, though a more insightful person would see it as a way to mitigate the shock of what he was saying to an overwhelmingly pro-segregationist public)
Comptroller of Treasury of Maryland v. Wynne, 575 U.S. 242 (decided May 18, 2015): Maryland must allow its taxpayers a credit for income tax paid to other states; otherwise it creates inter-state protectionism in violation of “Dormant Commerce Clause”
Saint Francis College v. Al-Khazraji, 481 U.S. 604 (decided May 18, 1987): persons of Arab descent can bring §1983 claim (professor alleged denied tenure due to being Arabic)
Bousley v. United States, 524 U.S. 614 (decided May 18, 1998): defendant can take advantage of post-conviction change in law (Bailey v. United States, 1995, holding that possession of firearm is not an aggravating element under drug trafficking statute if firearm is unrelated to the trafficking)
Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith, 598 U.S. 508 (decided May 18, 2023): Warhol exceeded “fair use” of photo of (the artist once and now again known as) Prince when he derived works from his silkscreen of photograph meant for one-time use in magazine (i.e., derivative of derivative, which pretty much sums up Warhol’s life and work)
Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (decided May 18, 2009): plaintiff’s suit for governmental misconduct (that Bush Administration officials condoned post-9/11 discrimination against Muslims by detaining them without evidence) dismissed because no specific acts alleged
St. Louis I.M.&S.R. Co. v. Taylor, 210 U.S. 281 (decided May 18, 1908): it is not an unconstitutional delegation of Congressional power for the Interstate Commerce Commission (remember them? the first regulatory agency!) to set standards for height of railroad couplings
Talton v. Mayes, 163 U.S. 376 (decided May 18, 1896): Fifth Amendment protections do not apply to Native American tried and sentenced to be hanged by tribal court
Flynt v. Ohio, 451 U.S. 619 (decided May 18, 1981): Supreme Court can’t review nonfinal state supreme court decisions (here, an obscenity prosecution where the Ohio Supreme Court had dismissed a defense of selective prosecution) where no federal policy is undermined by letting the litigation continue to final judgment
Amgen, Inc. v. Sanofi, 598 U.S. 594 (decided May 18, 2023): patent for antibodies to fight cholesterol invalid for lack of enablement (i.e., not specific enough to “enable a workman or other person skilled in the art” to make it; this is a quote from the Patent Act of 1790)
Dick v. New York Life Ins., 359 U.S. 437 (decided May 18, 1959): in a diversity case involving a life insurance policy, jury should have been allowed to determine whether death by gunshot was accidental or suicide; under North Dakota law death is presumed accidental and evidence of suicidal intent was not conclusive (the opinion has a lot of detail about prairie farm life in 1955, softening green ears of corn in bathtubs so that livestock will eat it, milking cows, making sausages, etc.)
McCaughn v. Hershey Chocolate Co., 283 U.S. 488 (decided May 18, 1931): Hershey Co. entitled to recover tax payments because chocolate was excluded from definition of taxable “candy”
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