Today in Supreme Court History: January 2

Rochin v. California, 342 U.S. 165 (decided January 2, 1952): Defendant vomited out two capsules of (illegal) morphine at hospital after being force-fed an emetic. After police broke into his house and dragged him there. All this without a warrant. Yeah, Due Process (“shocks the conscience”) violation. Capsules should have been suppressed, conviction vacated. No dissents.

Kiefer-Stewart Co. v. Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, 340 U.S. 211 (decided January 2, 1951): distillers’ agreement to set prices above which wholesalers could not resell was conspiracy in violation of Sherman Act (overruled by Copperweld Corp. v. Independence Tube Corp., 1984, to the extent that a parent corporation can’t be said to conspire with its affiliate)

Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific Ry. Co. v. Bohon, 200 U.S. 221 (decided January 2, 1906): wrongful death suit against railroad and its employee can’t be split for the purposes of removing the suit against the railroad on basis of diversity; it’s an inseparable controversy (this was before the Federal Employers Liability Act, which created vicarious liability and made suing the employee separately unnecessary)