Supreme Court - Sliplists, 556 U. S., Part 1

556 U. S., Part 1

Bartlett v. Strickland, 556 U. S. 1 (2009)

R030; No. 07-689; 3/9/09. The North Carolina Supreme Court’s holding that a minority group must constitute a numerical majority of the voting-age population in an area before §2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires the creation of a legislative district to prevent dilution of that group’s votes is affirmed.

Vaden v. Discover Bank, 556 U. S. ___ (2009)

R031; No. 07-773; 3/9/09. A federal court may “look through” a petition to compel arbitration filed under Federal Arbitration Act §4 to determine whether it is predicated on a controversy that “arises under” federal law; in keeping with the well-pleaded complaint rule, however, a federal court may not entertain a §4 petition based on the contents of a counterclaim when the whole controversy between the parties does not qualify for federal-court adjudication.

Vermont v. Brillon, 556 U. S. ___ (2009)

R032; No. 08-88; 3/9/09. In applying the Barker v. Wingo, 407 U. S. 514, 530, balancing test, which weighs the prosecution’s conduct against the defense’s in resolving speedy trial issues, the Vermont Supreme Court erred in ranking assigned counsel essentially as state actors, attributing the delays they caused to the State rather than to the defendant they represented.

Kansas v. Colorado, 556 U. S. ___ (2009)

R033; No. 105-Orig.; 3/9/09. Expert witness attendance fees that are available in cases brought under this Court’s original jurisdiction shall be the same as the expert witness attendance fees that would be available in a district court under 28 U. S. C. §1821(b).

Knowles v. Mirzayance, 556 U. S. ___ (2009)

R034; No. 07-1315; 3/24/09. Whether the California Court of Appeal’s decision rejecting respondent’s ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim is reviewed under 28 U. S. C. §2254(d)(1) or de novo, Mirzayance has failed to establish that his counsel’s performance was ineffective.

Puckett v. United States, 556 U. S. ___ (2009)

R035; No. 07-9712; 3/25/09. Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(b)’s plain-error test applies to a forfeited claim, like Puckett’s, that the Government failed to meet its obligations under a plea agreement, and applies in the usual fashion.

Rivera v. Illinois, 556 U. S. ___ (2009)

R036; No. 07-9995; 3/31/09. Provided that all jurors seated in a criminal case are qualified and unbiased, the Due Process Clause does not require automatic reversal of a conviction because of the trial court’s good-faith error in denying the defendant’s peremptory challenge to a juror.

Hawaii v. Office of Hawaiian Affairs, 556 U. S. ___ (2009)

R037; No. 07-1372; 3/31/09. Congress did not strip Hawaii of its authority to alienate its sovereign territory by passing a joint resolution to “apologize” for the role the United States played in overthrowing the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893.

Philip Morris USA Inc. v. Williams, 556 U. S. ___ (2009)

R038; No. 07-1216; 3/31/09. Certiorari dismissed as improvidently granted.

Harbison v. Bell, 556 U. S. ___ (2009)

R039; No. 07-8521; 4/1/09. Title 18 U. S. C. §3599 authorizes counsel appointed to represent state petitioners in 28 U. S. C. §2254 habeas proceedings to represent their clients in subsequent state clemency proceedings and entitles them to compensation for that representation.

Entergy Corp. v. Riverkeeper, Inc., 556 U. S. ___ (2009)

R040; No. 07-588; 4/1/09. The Environmental Protection Agency permissibly relied on cost-benefit analysis in setting national performance standards for existing powerplants’ cooling water intake structures and in providing for cost-benefit variances from those standards.

14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett, 556 U. S. ___ (2009)

R041; No. 07-581; 4/1/09. A provision in a collective-bargaining agreement that clearly and unmistakably requires union members to arbitrate claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 is enforceable as a matter of federal law.

United States v. Navajo Nation, 556 U. S. ___ (2009)

R042; No. 07-1410; 4/6/09. Respondent Tribe’s 15-year-old suit against the Government—which alleges that the Interior Secretary breached his fiduciary duty to the Tribe in connection with his 1987 approval of amendments to a coal lease the Tribe executed in 1964—fails because none of the laws the Tribe relies on provides any more sound a basis for the suit than those rejected in United States v. Navajo Nation, 537 U. S. 488.

Corley v. United States, 556 U. S. ___ (2009)

R043; No. 07-10441; 4/6/09. Title 18 U. S. C. §3501 modified, but did not supplant, the rule of McNabb v. United States, 318 U. S. 332, and Mallory v. United States, 354 U. S. 449, which makes an arrested person’s confession inadmissible if given after an unreasonable delay in bringing him before a judge.

Arizona v. Gant, 556 U. S. ___ (2009)

R044; No. 07-542; 4/21/09. Under the Fourth Amendment, police may search the passenger compartment of a vehicle incident to a recent occupant’s arrest only if it is reasonable to believe that the arrestee might access the vehicle at the time of the search or that the vehicle contains evidence of the offense of arrest.

Ministry of Defense and Support for Armed Forces of Islamic Republic of Iran v. Elahi, 556 U. S. ___ (2009)

R045; No. 07-615; 4/21/09. At the time of the Ninth Circuit’s decision in this case, a judgment held by Iran was not an asset “blocked” by the United States that could be attached by respondent under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002; even if Iran’s judgment is presently “blocked,” respondent cannot attach it because he has waived his right to do so under the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000.

Shinseki v. Sanders, 556 U. S. ___ (2009)

R046; No. 07-1209; 4/21/09. The Federal Circuit’s framework for determining the harmlessness of errors by the Department of Veterans Affairs in notifying a veteran of information or evidence necessary to substantiate his disability claim conflicts with 38 U. S. C. §7261(b)(2)’s requirement that the Veterans Court take “due account of the rule of prejudicial error.”

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Last Updated: April 21, 2009
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