Category: Supreme Court Decisions

The Supreme Court addressed the Constitution’s Contracts Clause for the first time in 25 years in Sveen v Melin, 584 U. S. ____ (2018). By a vote of 8-1, the Court held that the retroactive application of Minnesota’s revocation-on-divorce statute...

In Lozman v City of Riviera Beach, 585 U. S. ____ (2018), Fane Lozman, an outspoken critic of the Riviera Beach City Council, scored a second victory before the U.S. Supreme Court. By a vote of 8-1, the Court held that the existence of probable cause...

In Sause v Bauer, 585 U.S. ____ (2018), the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that it needs more facts before deciding whether police officers violated the constitutional rights of a woman who they allegedly told to stop praying. In their unanimous per cu...

In McCoy v Louisiana, 584 U. S. ____ (2018), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Sixth Amendment guarantees criminal defendants the “autonomy to decide … to assert innocence” as their defense. This includes the defendant’s right to insist th...

In Byrd v United States, 584 U. S. ____ (2018), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the mere fact that a driver in lawful possession or control of a rental car is not listed on the rental agreement will not defeat their otherwise reasonable expectation ...

In Animal Science Products, Inc v Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical Co, 585 U. S. ____ (2018), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a federal court determining foreign law under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 44.1 should give “respectful consideration” ...

In Ortiz v United States, 585 U. S. ____ (2018), the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the legality of a military officer serving as a judge on both an Air Force appeals court and the Court of Military Commission Review (CMCR). In so ruling, the Court reje...

Although the U.S. Supreme Court was poised to determine when partisan gerrymandering runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution, the justices unanimously decided the case on technical grounds. The Court held that the plaintiffs in Gill v Whitford, 585 U. S....

In Carpenter v United States, 585 U. S. ____ (2018), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the seizure of cell-site location information constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment. The case is the latest to interpret how to apply the Fourth Amendmen...

In Trump v Hawaii, 585 U.S. ____ (2018), a divided U.S. Supreme Court held that President Donald Trump lawfully exercised the broad discretion granted to him under the Immigration and Nationality Act to suspend the entry of certain immigrants into th...