Today in Supreme Court History: May 23

Rust v. Sullivan, 500 U.S. 173 (decided May 23, 1991): Congress can prohibit family planning agencies receiving federal funds from mentioning abortion either in their publications or in individual counseling (this was a plot point in the movie “Just Another Girl on the IRT”) Foster v. Chatman, 578 U.S. 488 (decided May 23, 2016): Batson challenge as to using peremptory challenges to exclude the only black prospective jurors can be revived upon discovery of documents in prosecution files highlighting everyone in jury pool who was black General Dynamics v. United States, 563 U.S. 478 (decided May 23, 2017): government and defense contractor stuck with contract despite cost overruns and dissatisfaction on both sides because litigating the contractor’s defense that failure to perform was due to government refusal to share “superior knowledge” would necessarily involve disclosure of state secrets; suit by contractor in Court of Federal Claims dismissed Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458 (decided May 23, 1938): whether defendant’s waiver of right to counsel under Sixth Amendment was “intelligent” and “competent” is question for trial court (his inability to actually afford a lawyer presumably would be a valid reason for waiver; this was before Gideon v. Wainwright) Clingman v. Beaver, 544 U.S. 581 (decided May 23, 2005): restricting primary election to registered party members did not violate First Amendment “freedom of association” Sanger v. Nightingale, 122 U.S. 176 (decided May 23, 1887): A suit alleging a fraudulent mortgage, involving the effect of a statute of limitations requiring pre-1865 claims to be brought by 1870. Interesting because one of the issues was the valuation of 120 slaves on the estate as mortgaged in 1855 who were lost due to emancipation. ​ Brown v. Plata, 563 U.S. 493 (decided May 23, 2011): remedy for overcrowding causing Eighth Amendment injury to mentally ill prisoners was to decrease the prison population (to only 137.5% of design capacity) Budinich v. Becton Dickinson & Co., 486 U.S. 196 (decided May 23, 1988): adjudication of state law claim on merits is appealable “final judgment” under 28 U.S.C. §1291 despite remaining issue of attorney fee award even if under state law fees are part of the judgment ​ Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., 596 U.S. --- (decided May 23, 2022): As those of us in this field know, you can interpose arbitration as an affirmative defense, but you have to actually call in the arbitrator before meaningful discovery takes place (and certainly before the statute of limitations has run). Here, where restaurant chain employees had brought a “collective action” alleging violation of overtime pay laws, the Court, construing the Federal Arbitration Act, holds that one objecting to late arbitration doesn’t have to show that there was prejudice due to the delay (remanding to Circuit Court question of whether restaurant chain acted inconsistently with its right to arbitrate). United States v. Wong, 431 U.S. 174 (decided May 23, 1977): defendant prosecuted for committing perjury in front of grand jury not entitled to suppression of false statement despite not having been informed of right to remain silent