Today in Supreme Court History: July 1

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 collection, out-of-precinct voting; neither had racially discriminatory purpose; Alito’s opinion upholds district court finding of no disparate impact; no evidence of any “fraud” or “intimidation” these restrictions were meant to combat and Alito seems to think evidence is unnecessary

Planned Parenthood v. Danforth, 428 U.S. 52 (decided July 1, 1976): struck down Missouri statute requiring parental or spousal consent for abortion

Bellotti v. Baird, 428 U.S. 132 (decided July 1, 1976): certifies to Massachusetts’s highest court the question of whether Massachusetts statute requiring parental consent for abortion conflicted with state law holding that some minors are capable of giving informed consent (the state court held that it did not, and the statute was struck down in Bellotti v. Baird, 1979, not on Equal Protection grounds but because it burdened the right to an abortion)

Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, 594 U.S. 595 (decided July 1, 2021): striking down on Free Association grounds California law requiring charities to send to Attorney General IRS forms listing donor information; purpose was to prevent abuse of not-for-profit laws but in fact did not help in those efforts

Allen v. Illinois, 478 U.S. 364 (decided July 1, 1986): proceedings under which person is declared “sexually dangerous” (resulting in warnings to community etc.) are not “criminal" so there is no Fifth Amendment privilege; 5 - 4 decision (sounds wrong to me! -- one can certainly take the Fifth in a civil lawsuit)

CBS v. FCC, 453 U.S. 367 (decided July 1, 1981): any candidate for federal office who makes it onto the ballot must be given chance to buy broadcast time (suit was brought by Carter-Mondale campaign which had been denied access)

Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan, 458 U.S. 718 (decided July 1, 1982): state school (here, a nursing school) can’t have single-sex admission policy

United States v. Winstar Corp., 518 U.S. 839 (decided July 1, 1996): statute dealing with savings and loan crisis changed valuation terms for failed banks to the detriment of successor banks who had agreed to take over and therefore federal government breached its contract with them

School District of Grand Rapids v. Ball, 473 U.S. 373 (decided July 1, 1985): Establishment Clause violated by program putting public school teachers in religious schools to teach secular topics (overruled by Agostini v. Felton, 1997)

Trump v. United States, 603 U.S. 593 (decided July 1, 2024): President is “absolutely immune” from criminal liability for “official actions” as to “core Constitutional powers” (such as Trump threatening to fire his Attorney General if he didn’t order states to investigate imagined election fraud); “presumptively immune” for other “official actions” (such as trying to get Pence to decertify Electoral College results); punts to District Court the question as to whether Trump’s calls to Republican officials to submit fake ballots of electors, and his actions on January 6, 2021 as to attack on Capitol, were “official actions” (if this had been the law in 1974, Ford’s pardon of Nixon would have been unnecessary because all his Watergate misconduct involved Executive Branch officials, i.e., was “core”)