October Term 2020

53 opinions

• Alabama Assn. of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Servs.
  2021-08-26 · 594 U. S. 758 (2021)
  0–3 — Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan dissenting
• Dunn v. Reeves
  2021-07-02 · 594 U. S. 731 (2021)
  6-3 — Sotomayor, Kagan dissenting

  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit erred in characterizing the Alabama court's case-specific analysis as a "categorical rule" that any prisoner will always lose an ineffective-assistance-of-trial-counsel claim if he fails to call and question trial counsel concerning his or her actions and reasoning; the Alabama court did not violate clearly established federal law when it rejected Reeves' ineffective-assistance-of-trial-counsel claim.

• Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee
  2021-07-01 · 594 U. S. 647 (2021)
  6-3 — Kagan, Breyer, Sotomayor dissenting

  Arizona's out-of-precinct policy and H.B. 2023 do not violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act , and H.B. 2023 was not enacted with a racially discriminatory purpose.

• Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta
  2021-07-01 · 594 U. S. 595 (2021)
  3–3 — Sotomayor, Breyer, Kagan dissenting
• Minerva Surgical, Inc. v. Hologic, Inc.
  2021-06-29 · 594 U. S. 559 (2021)
  5-4 — Alito, Barrett, Thomas, Gorsuch dissenting

  The well-grounded patent law doctrine of assignor estoppel applies only when the assignor's claim of invalidity contradicts explicit or implicit representations the assignor made in assigning the patent.

• Johnson v. Guzman Chavez
  2021-06-29 · 594 U. S. 523 (2021)
  2–3 — Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan dissenting
• PennEast Pipeline Co. v. New Jersey
  2021-06-29 · 594 U. S. 482 (2021)
  5-4 — Gorsuch, Thomas, Barrett, Kagan dissenting

  A certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission pursuant to Section 717f(h) of the Natural Gas Act authorizes a private company to condemn all necessary rights-of-way, whether owned by private parties or states.

• Pakdel v. City and County of San Francisco
  2021-06-28 · 594 U. S. 474 (2021)
• Lombardo v. St. Louis
  2021-06-28 · 594 U. S. 464 (2021)
  0–3 — Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch dissenting
• TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez
  2021-06-25 · 594 U. S. 413 (2021)
  5-4 — Thomas, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan dissenting

  Only a plaintiff concretely harmed by a defendant's violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act has Article III standing to seek damages against that private defendant in federal court.

• HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining, LLC v. Renewable Fuels Assn.
  2021-06-25 · 594 U. S. 382 (2021) · Reversed
  6–3 — Barrett, Sotomayor, Kagan dissenting
• Yellen v. Confederated Tribes of Chehalis Reservation
  2021-06-25 · 594 U. S. 338 (2021)
  0–3 — Gorsuch, Thomas, Kagan dissenting
• Lange v. California
  2021-06-23 · 594 U. S. 295 (2021) · Vacated and remanded
  9-0

  Under the Fourth Amendment, pursuit of a fleeing misdemeanor suspect does not always or categorically qualify as an exigent circumstance justifying a warrantless entry into a home.

• Collins v. Yellen
  2021-06-23 · 594 U. S. 220 (2021)
  9–2 — Sotomayor, Breyer dissenting
• Mahanoy Area School Dist. v. B. L.
  2021-06-23 · 594 U. S. 180 (2021)
  8–1 — Thomas dissenting
• Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid
  2021-06-23 · 594 U. S. 139 (2021)
  6-3 — Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan dissenting

  A California regulation granting labor organizations a "right to take access" to an agricultural employer's property to solicit support for unionization constitutes a per se physical taking.

• Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. v. Arkansas Teacher Retirement System
  2021-06-21 · 594 U. S. 113 (2021)
  8-1 — dissenting

  The generic nature of a misrepresentation in connection with the sale of securities often is important evidence of price impact that courts should consider at class certification; defendants bear the burden of persuasion to prove a lack of price impact by a preponderance of the evidence at class certification.

• National Collegiate Athletic Assn. v. Alston
  2021-06-21 · 594 U. S. 69 (2021)
  Unanimous
• United States v. Arthrex, Inc.
  2021-06-21 · 594 U. S. 1 (2021)
  5-4 — Thomas, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan dissenting

  The unreviewable authority wielded by Administrative Patent Judges during inter partes review is incompatible with their appointment by the Secretary of Commerce to an inferior office.

• California v. Texas
  2021-06-17 · 593 U. S. 659 (2021)
  7-2 — Alito, Gorsuch dissenting

  Plaintiffs lack standing to challenge the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's minimum essential coverage provision .

• Nestlé USA, Inc. v. Doe
  2021-06-17 · 593 U. S. 628 (2021)
  6–1 — Alito dissenting
• Fulton v. Philadelphia
  2021-06-17 · 593 U. S. 522 (2021)
  Unanimous
• Greer v. United States
  2021-06-14 · 593 U. S. 503 (2021)
  9-0

  In felon-in-possession cases under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) , an error under Rehaif v. United States is not a basis for plain-error relief unless the defendant first makes a sufficient argument or representation on appeal that he would have presented evidence at trial that he did not in fact know he was a felon.

• Terry v. United States
  2021-06-14 · 593 U. S. 486 (2021)
  Unanimous
• Borden v. United States
  2021-06-10 · 593 U. S. 420 (2021)
  5-4 — Kavanaugh, Roberts, Alito, Barrett dissenting

  The decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, holding that an offense with a mental state of recklessness may qualify as a "violent felony" under the Armed Career Criminal Act's elements clause, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B)(i) , is reversed, and the case is remanded.

• Sanchez v. Mayorkas
  2021-06-07 · 593 U. S. 409 (2021)
  9-0

  An individual who entered the United States unlawfully is not eligible to become a lawful permanent resident under 8 U.S.C. § 1255 even if the United States has granted the individual temporary protected status.

• Van Buren v. United States
  2021-06-03 · 593 U. S. 374 (2021)
  6-3 — Thomas, Roberts, Alito dissenting

  An individual "exceeds authorized access" under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986, 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(2) , when he accesses a computer with authorization but then obtains information located in particular areas of the computer, such as files, folders or databases, that are off-limits to him.

• Garland v. Ming Dai
  2021-06-01 · 593 U. S. 357 (2021)
  Unanimous
• United States v. Cooley
  2021-06-01 · 593 U. S. 345 (2021)
  9-0

  A tribal police officer has authority to detain temporarily and to search a non-Native American traveling on a public right-of-way running through a reservation for potential violations of state or federal law.

• San Antonio v. Hotels.com, L. P.
  2021-05-27 · 593 U. S. 330 (2021)
  Unanimous
• United States v. Palomar-Santiago
  2021-05-24 · 593 U. S. 321 (2021)
  9-0

  Each of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(d) 's statutory requirements for bringing a collateral attack on a prior deportation order is mandatory.

• Guam v. United States
  2021-05-24 · 593 U. S. 310 (2021)
  9-0

  A settlement of environmental liabilities must resolve a specific liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to give rise to a contribution action under that act.

• Edwards v. Vannoy
  2021-05-17 · 593 U. S. 255 (2021)
  6-3 — Kagan, Breyer, Sotomayor dissenting

  The jury-unanimity rule announced in Ramos v. Louisiana does not apply retroactively on federal collateral review.

• BP p.l.c. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore
  2021-05-17 · 593 U. S. 230 (2021)
  7-1 — Sotomayor dissenting

  Where defendant energy companies premised 28 U.S.C. § 1447(d) removal in part on the federal officer removal statute, Section 1442 , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit erred in holding that it lacked jurisdiction to consider all grounds for removal rejected by the district court.

• CIC Servs., LLC v. IRS
  2021-05-17 · 593 U. S. 209 (2021)
  Unanimous
• Caniglia v. Strom
  2021-05-17 · 593 U. S. 194 (2021)
  9-0

  Neither the holding nor logic of Cady v. Dombrowski justifies the removal of Edward Caniglia's firearms from his home by police officers under a "community caretaking exception" to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement.

• Niz-Chavez v. Garland
  2021-04-29 · 593 U. S. 155 (2021) · Reversed
  6-3 — Kavanaugh, Roberts, Alito dissenting

  A notice to appear sufficient to trigger the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 's stop-time rule is a single document containing all the information about an individual's removal hearing specified in 8 U.S.C. § 1229(a)(1) .

• Alaska v. Wright
  2021-04-26 · 593 U. S. 152 (2021)
  9-0

  The requirement under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a) that a habeas petitioner be "in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court" is not met if the state judgment is simply a necessary predicate to a federal conviction.

• Jones v. Mississippi
  2021-04-22 · 593 U. S. 98 (2021)
  6-3 — Sotomayor, Breyer, Kagan dissenting

  The Eighth Amendment does not require a finding that a juvenile is permanently incorrigible before imposing a sentence of life without parole.

• Carr v. Saul
  2021-04-22 · 593 U. S. 83 (2021)
  9-0

  Principles of issue exhaustion do not require Social Security disability claimants to argue at the agency level that the administrative law judges hearing their disability claims were unconstitutionally appointed.

• AMG Capital Management, LLC v. FTC
  2021-04-22 · 593 U. S. 67 (2021)
  Unanimous
• Tandon v. Newsom
  2021-04-09 · 593 U. S. 61 (2021)
  5-4 — Kagan, Breyer, Sotomayor dissenting

  California is enjoined from enforcing COVID-19 "restrictions on private gatherings as applied to applicants" at-home religious exercise, pending disposition of the appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and disposition of the petition for a writ of certiorari, if any.

• Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc.
  2021-04-05 · 593 U. S. 1 (2021)
  6-2 — Thomas, Alito dissenting

  Google's limited copying of the Java SE Application Programming Interface allowed programmers to put their accrued talents to work in a transformative program and constituted a fair use of that material under copyright law.

• Florida v. Georgia
  2021-04-01 · 592 U. S. 433 (2021)
  Unanimous
• FCC v. Prometheus Radio Project
  2021-04-01 · 592 U. S. 414 (2021)
  Unanimous
• Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid
  2021-04-01 · 592 U. S. 395 (2021)
  9-0

  To qualify as an "automatic telephone dialing system" under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 , a device must have the capacity either to store, or to produce, a telephone number using a random or sequential number generator.

• Mays v. Hines
  2021-03-29 · 592 U. S. 385 (2021)
  8-1 — dissenting

  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit erred in revisiting, on federal habeas review, the decision of a Tennessee court supported by ample evidence that did not exceed the possibility of fairminded disagreement supporting that court's conclusion.

• Ford Motor Co. v. Montana Eighth Judicial Dist.
  2021-03-25 · 592 U. S. 351 (2021)
  Unanimous
• Torres v. Madrid
  2021-03-25 · 592 U. S. 306 (2021)
  5-3 — Gorsuch, Thomas, Alito dissenting

  The application of physical force to the body of a person with intent to restrain is a seizure even if the person does not submit and is not subdued.

• Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski
  2021-03-08 · 592 U. S. 279 (2021)
  8-1 — Roberts dissenting

  A request for nominal damages satisfies the redressability element necessary for Article III standing where a plaintiff's claim is based on a completed violation of a legal right.

• United States Fish and Wildlife Serv. v. Sierra Club, Inc.
  2021-03-04 · 592 U. S. 261 (2021)
  7–2 — Breyer, Sotomayor dissenting
• Pereida v. Wilkinson
  2021-03-04 · 592 U. S. 224 (2021)
  5-3 — Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan dissenting

  A nonpermanent resident seeking to cancel a lawful removal order fails to carry his burden of showing that he has not been convicted of a disqualifying offense when the statutory conviction on his record is ambiguous regarding whether a disqualifying offense formed the basis of his conviction.

• Brownback v. King
  2021-02-25 · 592 U. S. 209 (2021)
  9-0

  The district court's dismissal of King's claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act triggered the "judgment bar" in 28 U.S.C. § 2676 that precludes him from raising separate claims under Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents on appeal.