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 publications or in individual counseling (this was a plot point in the 1992 movie “Just Another Girl on the IRT”)

Foster v. Chatman, 578 U.S. 488 (decided May 23, 2016): Batson objection to use of 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, 2011): government and defense contractor are 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 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.  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 limit prison population (to only 137.5% of 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. 411 (decided May 23, 2022): In general you can cite arbitration as an affirmative defense, but you have to move to dismiss/compel arbitration before meaningful discovery takes place (and before statute of limitations has run).  Here restaurant chain employees had brought a “collective action” alleging violation of overtime pay laws; Court, construing Federal Arbitration Act, holds that one objecting to a late arbitration doesn’t have to show 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

Brown v. United States, 602 U.S. 101 (decided May 23, 2024): past drug convictions are aggravating factors for sentencing under Armed Career Criminal Act even if that drug (marijuana) is now legal; Jackson in dissent points out that ACCA refers only to current drug schedules

Alexander v. South Carolina Conference of NAACP, 602 U.S. 1 (decided May 23, 2024): Once again the Court tries to disentangle racial gerrymandering (not o.k.) from partisan gerrymandering (perfectly fine) in a world where one race votes so overwhelming for one party.  The decision has a lot of detail over how the South Carolina legislature divvied up the state, includes maps, and ends up rejecting a challenge to their plan.  In concurrence Thomas argues once again that any claim of racial gerrymandering is beyond judicial review.