Today in Supreme Court History: May 1

Knox v. Lee (Legal Tender Cases), 79 U.S. 457 (decided May 1, 1871): forcing creditors to accept new (paper) money for preexisting debts is not a Fifth Amendment “taking” which applies only to physical property (as pointed out in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, 2021, “takings” are now more expansively defined)

Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228 (decided May 1, 1989): Title VII plaintiff doesn’t have to prove but-for causation, just a motivating factor; defendant must show by preponderance a non-discriminatory reason for failure to promote (1991 amendment devised a different test, as noted in Comcast Corp. v. National Association of African American-Owned Media, 2020, see March 23)

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela v. Helmerich & Payne Int’l Drilling Co., 581 U.S. 170 (decided May 1, 2017): (I didn’t know until now that this is the official name of that country) plaintiff must show that property (here, oil rigs) was actually taken in violation of international law to invoke jurisdiction of court under the “expropriation” exception in Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act; whether property belonged to plaintiff is what is decided in “the merits phase of the litigation” (but isn’t a showing of violation part of the “merits”?) (case later dismissed based on later appellate court holding that FSIA requires property to be present in the U.S., 2023 WL 1401372 (D. D.C., Jan. 31, 2023))

Arkansas Dept. of Health & Human Services v. Ahlborn, 547 U.S. 268 (decided May 1, 2006): I do a CLE presentation on this case, which means it’s a boring topic: Medicare and Medicaid liens on personal injury settlements.  Here, the Court holds that an Arkansas statute requiring recovery of the full Medicaid lien violates the prohibition on liens recovering “property” (42 U.S.C. §1395p) because it invades the part of the settlement not reasonably ascribable to medical expenses.

United States v. Robertson, 514 U.S. 669 (decided May 1, 1995): gold mine into which defendant invested ill-gotten RICO gains (from sale of cocaine) was involved in “interstate commerce” so as to implicate RICO statute

Mallard v. United States District Court for Southern District of Iowa, 490 U.S. 296 (decided May 1, 1989): 28 U.S.C. §1915(d) permits court to request (but not force) attorney to represent indigent criminal defendant

Oklahoma v. Texas, 258 U.S. 574 (decided May 1, 1922): border of the ever-shifting Red River depends on the part that is navigable, a difficult question because at that point the “main channel” was a dry bed with streams around it; important because it involved oil and gas rights (both sides concede that all of the river bed belongs to Oklahoma; the map today shows the river and the border swing-dancing the whole way)

Ashcraft v. Tennessee, 322 U.S. 143 (decided May 1, 1944): white man allegedly hired black man to kill his wife; simply being held by police for 36 hours with little sleep means white man’s confession was not voluntary (police denied coercive tactics); conviction vacated, black man’s conviction therefore also vacated; Jackson in dissent: no torture, and can’t disturb state court’s finding that confession was voluntary

In re Permian Basin Area Rate Cases, 390 U.S. 747 (decided May 1, 1968): long decision (with 96 headnotes!!) affirming the Federal Power Commission’s power to set rates and other requirements for gas drilled from the Permian Basin (areas of Texas and New Mexico)

Latta & Terry Constr. Co. v. British Steamship “Raithmoor”, 241 U.S. 166 (decided May 1, 1916): admiralty jurisdiction extends to suit for damage to pier hit by vessel