Rostker v. Goldberg, 448 U.S. 1306 (decided July 19, 1980): Does the draft (applicable to males only) discriminate? The District Court said yes and enjoined enforcement. Here, Brennan grants a stay of that order (as to males born in 1960 and 1961), noting likelihood of cert. As it turned out, cert was granted and Court upheld males-only draft, with Rehnquist’s opining that males and females were not “similarly situated”, 453 U.S. 57 (1981). (For years it was obvious that

Hamblen v. Dugger, 492 U.S. 929 (decided July 18, 1989): Staying execution pending decision on certiorari, with the stay to dissolve if cert was denied. Cert was denied on 6/28/90, 497 U.S. 1031, with Brennan and Marshall as usual dissenting, “adhering to our views that the death penalty is in all circumstances cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments”. For some reason execution did not happen then; it happened the day after another ap

Rubin v. United States, 524 U.S. 1301 (decided July 17, 1998): Rehnquist denies motion to stay subpoenas for testimony of Secret Service officers as to what they overheard Clinton say in regard to the matters Kenneth Starr was investigating; Rehnquist concedes that “confidentiality” and “the physical safety of the President” are implicated, and assumes for the purpose of the motion that cert would be granted, but then denies the application on the grounds that the Circuit Cou

Travia v. Lomenzo, 86 S.Ct. 7 (decided July 16, 1965): In this order by Harlan refusing a stay of a District Court decision, we learn 1) that a federal trial court order, even when up for appeal, is “final and binding” on a state’s highest court; 2) how pissed off he was by the Supreme Court’s earlier decision in this case, which he dissented from; 3) how he is bound by Court’s earlier decision regarding a similar application (381 U.S. 431); and 4) how if the Court had explai

Campbell v. Florida, 400 U.S. 801 (decided July 15, 1970): denies cert in murder case where defendant argued it was error to exclude jurors who would impose death penalty only if recommendation for mercy was added (this was between Witherspoon v. Illinois, 1968, which struck a statute allowing peremptory excusals of jurors who generally opposed the death penalty, and Wainwright v. Witt, 1985, can exclude anti-death penalty jurors but not those who merely had reservations abou

Barr v. Lee, 140 S.Ct. 2590 (decided July 14, 2020): stay of execution (actually denial of preliminary injunction) denied to death row inmates because their claim that execution by pentobarbital sodium injection was “cruel and unusual” was unlikely to command four votes for certiorari (the per curiam opinion points out the surprising [at least to me] fact that the Court has never found a method of execution to be cruel and unusual); Ginsburg and Breyer dissent on the basis th

Julian v. United States, 463 U.S. 1308 (decided July 13, 1983): request for bail denied by Rehnquist because grant of certiorari appeared very unlikely (applicant had been caught with drugs while trying to board flight to Peru -- sure sounds like a flight risk to me) Capital Cities Media v. Toole, 463 U.S. 1303) decided July 13, 1983): refusing to rule on stay (affirmed by Pennsylvania Supreme Court) of order prohibiting press disclosure of jury photos and jury information; d

New York Times Co. v. Jascalevich, 439 U.S. 1304 (decided July 12, 1978): Marshall denies stay pending cert. application as to New Jersey subpoena requiring reporter Myron Ferber to hand over documents in murder trial; stay inappropriate with trial in progress and in camera review pending; Marshall points out if reporter refused to comply he could raise his arguments again in resulting contempt proceeding. The day before, White had denied a stay as to subpoena to testify as

Organized Village of Kake v. Egan, 80 S.Ct. 33 (decided July 11, 1959): Brennan grants restraining order preventing Alaska from enforcing statute criminalizing fish traps against Native American tribe because Secretary of Interior had granted exemption and its livelihood depended on them. (Question on direct appeal was whether Secretary’s authority superseded Alaska’s. The Alaska Supreme Court ended up ruling against the Native Americans, and the Court affirmed in 1962, 369

Turner v. Quarterman, 554 U.S. 933 (decided July 10, 2008): Stay of execution denied, as it had been by Fifth Circuit, but we learn from the Fifth Circuit dissent that defendant’s argument -- that he was entitled to federally appointed counsel in his clemency proceeding -- though foreclosed by Fifth Circuit precedent, had been decided differently by other Circuits and the Supreme Court had just granted certiorari to resolve the split. (In that case, Harbison v. Bell, the Cou

McGirt v. Oklahoma, 591 U.S. 894 (decided July 9, 2020): Oklahoma had no jurisdiction to try Native American because alleged crime occurred on what was still technically a reservation despite long history of broken promises and disruption of borders; case can only be tried in federal court under the Major Crimes Act (the decision is a good example of Gorsuch’s casual writing style) Trump v. Vance, 591 U.S. 786 (decided July 9, 2020): grand jury could subpoena Trump’s accounta

Secretary of the Navy v. Avrech, 418 U.S. 676 (decided July 8, 1974): soldier busted down to private for publishing a “disloyal” statement; Court refuses to hear case because service personnel do not enjoy full First Amendment rights (citing Parker v. Levy, 1974) Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, 591 U.S. 732 (decided July 8, 2020): “ministerial exception” to First Amendment (as to teachers of religion) precludes age discrimination and disability discrimination

Commodity Futures Trading Comm’n v. Schor, 478 U.S. 833 (decided July 7, 1986): no separation of powers problem with statute allowing CFTC hearing reparations proceedings against brokers to also have (non-exclusive) jurisdiction over state law counterclaims even though not Article III court and no trial by jury Bowsher v. Synar, 478 U.S. 714 (decided July 7, 1986): separation of powers violated by Congressional agency official whose deficit reductions the President was requir

South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364 (decided July 6, 1976): no warrant needed to search car impounded because illegally parked; cars are not “houses” (Fourth Amendment) and diminished expectation of privacy; marijuana found during permissible “inventory” Chiafalo v. Washington, 591 U.S. 578 (decided July 6, 2020): a state can fine “faithless elector” who does not vote according to instructions laid down by state legislature (State of Washington went for Hillary Clinton in

United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897 (decided July 5, 1984): evidence (here, drugs) can be presented at trial despite bad warrant if warrant was facially valid and police relied on it in good faith; warrant found not based on probable cause but purpose of exclusionary rule (to deter police misconduct) didn’t apply Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 (decided July 5, 1983): use of government funds to pay Nebraska legislature’s chaplain did not violate Establishment Clause (all he d

In re Lewis, 418 U.S. 1301 (decided July 4, 1974): Douglas releases Will Lewis, San Francisco radio station manager, who had been jailed for contempt and spent 19 days in solitary confinement; Lewis had given copies of recordings (from the Weather Underground relative to a shootout with police by the Symbionese Liberation Army) to FBI but refused to deliver originals; Douglas cites First Amendment concerns, pending decision on appeal (Lewis lost, 501 F.2d 418, decided to fina

FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726 (decided July 3, 1978): George Carlin’s “seven dirty words” broadcast on WBAI in New York at 2 p.m.; Court upholds FCC’s reprimand despite First Amendment concerns; possibly would have been different result if broadcast at night (I listened to ’BAI in those years and they would talk about the incident regularly, though not mentioning the actual words) (“she was working for the friends of ’BAI” -- anyone remember that song?) Webster v.

Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153 (decided July 2, 1976): death penalty is ok if rendered by jury in separate sentencing phase with established aggravating and mitigating factors and appellate review provided as to disproportionality (in a sense overruling Furman v. Georgia, 1972) Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 325 (decided July 2, 1976): (citing Gregg) death penalty unconstitutional if mandatory for certain crimes Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242 (decided July 2, 1976): Florid

Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, 473 U.S. 432 (decided July 1, 1985): Equal Protection violated by refusing to grant permit to build group home for intellectually disabled (rational basis review; this holding was largely codified by 1988 Fair Housing Act amendment that added people with mental disabilities to list of protected persons) Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, 594 U.S. 647 (decided July 1, 2021): Voting Rights Act not violated by new laws barring ballot c

Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, 573 U.S. 682 (decided June 30, 2014): for-profit corporation is a “person” and if closely held can refuse under Religious Freedom Restoration Act to obey regulation (Affordable Care Act’s requirement to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives) New York Times v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (decided June 30, 1971): First Amendment allowed printing of “The Pentagon Papers” (McNamara’s secret history of the Vietnam War) despite Espionage Act b