October Term 2024
67 opinions
- Goldey v. Fields606 U. S. 942 (2025)9-0
Holding. The Fourth Circuit’s determination that inmate Andrew Fields could proceed with his Eighth Amendment excessive-force claim for damages under Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents is reversed, and the case is remanded.
June 30, 2025 - Trump v. CASA, Inc.606 U. S. 831 (2025)6-3 · Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson dissenting
Holding. Because universal injunctions likely exceed the equitable authority that Congress has granted to federal courts, the court grants the government’s applications for a partial stay of the injunctions entered below regarding the implementation and enforcement of the Trump administration’s Jan. 20 executive order ending birthright citizenship, but only to the extent that the injunctions are broader than necessary to provide complete relief to each plaintiff with standing to sue.
June 27, 2025 - Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, Inc.606 U. S. 748 (2025)6-3 · Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch dissenting
Holding. Members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are inferior officers whose appointment by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services is consistent with the appointments clause.
June 27, 2025 - FCC v. Consumers’ Research606 U. S. 656 (2025)6-3 · Gorsuch, Thomas, Alito dissenting
Holding. The universal-service contribution scheme does not violate the Constitution’s nondelegation doctrine; Congress sufficiently guided and constrained the discretion that it lodged with the Federal Communications Commission to implement that scheme, and the FCC has retained all decision-making authority within that sphere, relying on the Universal Service Administrative Company only for non-binding advice.
June 27, 2025 - Mahmoud v. Taylor606 U. S. 522 (2025)6-3 · Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson dissenting
Holding. Parents challenging the Montgomery County Board of Education’s introduction of certain “LGBTQ+-inclusive” storybooks, along with the board’s decision to withhold parental opt outs from that instruction, are entitled to a preliminary injunction.
June 27, 2025 - Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton606 U. S. 461 (2025)6-3 · Kagan, Sotomayor, Jackson dissenting
Holding. A Texas law requiring certain commercial websites publishing sexually explicit content that is obscene to minors to verify that visitors are 18 or older only incidentally burdens the protected speech of adults and survives intermediate scrutiny under the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause.
June 27, 2025 - Hewitt v. United States606 U. S. 419 (2025)5-4 · Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh, Barrett dissenting
Holding. Because a sentence “has... been imposed” for purposes of § 403(b) of the First Step Act only if the sentence is extant (i.e., has not been vacated), the act’s more lenient penalties apply to defendants whose previous sentences have been vacated and who need to be resentenced following the act’s enactment; the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit is reversed and the case is remanded.
June 26, 2025 - Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic606 U. S. 357 (2025)6-3 · Jackson, Sotomayor, Kagan dissenting
Holding. Medicaid’s any-qualified-provider provision does not clearly and unambiguously confer a private right upon a Medicaid beneficiary to choose a specific provider.
June 26, 2025 - Gutierrez v. Saenz606 U. S. 305 (2025)6-3 · Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch dissenting
Holding. Petitioner Ruben Gutierrez has standing to bring his claim challenging Texas’s postconviction DNA testing procedures under the due process clause.
June 26, 2025 - Riley v. Bondi606 U. S. 259 (2025) · Vacated and remanded5-4 · Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson, Gorsuch dissenting
Holding. An order from the Board of Immigration Appeals denying deferral of removal in a “withholding only” proceeding is not a “final order of removal” under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(1); the 30-day filing deadline to challenge a final order of removal under is a claims-processing rule, not a jurisdictional requirement.
June 26, 2025 - FDA v. R. J. Reynolds Vapor Co.606 U. S. 226 (2025)7-2 · Jackson, Sotomayor dissenting
Holding. Retailers who would sell a new tobacco product if not for the FDA’s denial order may seek judicial review of that order under 21 U.S.C. § 387l(a)(1).
June 20, 2025 - Esteras v. United States606 U. S. 185 (2025)7-2 · Alito, Gorsuch dissenting
Holding. A district court considering whether to revoke a defendant’s term of supervised release may not consider 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a)(2)(A), which covers retribution vis-à-vis the defendant’s underlying criminal offense.
June 20, 2025 - McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates, Inc. v. McKesson Corp.606 U. S. 146 (2025) · Reversed and remanded6-3 · Kagan, Sotomayor, Jackson dissenting
Holding. The Hobbs Act does not bind district courts in civil enforcement proceedings to an agency’s interpretation of a statute. District courts must independently determine the law’s meaning under ordinary principles of statutory interpretation while affording appropriate respect to the agency’s interpretation.
June 20, 2025 - Diamond Alternative Energy, LLC v. EPA606 U. S. 100 (2025)7-2 · Sotomayor, Jackson dissenting
Holding. The fuel producers have Article III standing to challenge the EPA’s approval under the Clean Air Act of California regulations requiring automakers to manufacture more electric vehicles and fewer gasoline-powered vehicles.
June 20, 2025 - Stanley v. City of Sanford606 U. S. 46 (2025)8-1 · Jackson dissenting
Holding. To prevail under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a plaintiff must plead and prove that she held or desired a job, and could perform its essential functions with or without reasonable accommodation, at the time of an employer’s alleged act of disability-based discrimination; the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit is affirmed.
June 20, 2025 - Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization606 U. S. 1 (2025)9-0
Holding. The Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act’s personal jurisdiction provision does not violate the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause because the statute reasonably ties the assertion of jurisdiction over the Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority to conduct involving the United States and implicating sensitive foreign policy matters within the prerogative of the political branches.
June 20, 2025 - NRC v. Texas605 U. S. 665 (2025)6-3 · Gorsuch, Thomas, Alito dissenting
Holding. Entities who were not parties to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing proceeding are not entitled to obtain judicial review of the commission’s licensing decision under the Hobbs Act.
June 18, 2025 - EPA v. Calumet Shreveport Refining, L.L.C.605 U. S. 627 (2025)7-2 · Gorsuch, Roberts dissenting
Holding. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA’s denials of small refinery exemption petitions are locally or regionally applicable actions that fall within the “nationwide scope or effect” exception, requiring venue in the D.C. Circuit.
June 18, 2025 - Oklahoma v. EPA605 U. S. 609 (2025)8-0
Holding. Under the Clean Air Act, EPA’s disapprovals of the Oklahoma and Utah state implementation plans are locally or regionally applicable actions reviewable in a regional court of appeals.
June 18, 2025 - United States v. Skrmetti605 U. S. 495 (2025)6-3 · Sotomayor, Jackson, Kagan dissenting
Holding. Tennessee’s law prohibiting certain medical treatments for transgender minors is not subject to heightened scrutiny under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and satisfies rational basis review.
June 18, 2025 - Perttu v. Richards605 U. S. 460 (2025)5-4 · Barrett, Thomas, Alito, Kavanaugh dissenting
Holding. Parties are entitled to a jury trial on the issue of exhaustion of remedies under the Prison Litigation Reform Act when that issue is intertwined with the merits of a claim that requires a jury trial under the Seventh Amendment.
June 18, 2025 - Rivers v. Guerrero605 U. S. 443 (2025)9-0
Holding. Once a district court enters its judgment with respect to a first-filed habeas petition, a second-in-time filing qualifies as a “second or successive application” under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 properly subject to the requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b).
June 12, 2025 - Commissioner v. Zuch605 U. S. 422 (2025)8-1 · Gorsuch dissenting
Holding. The United States Tax Court lacks jurisdiction under 26 U.S.C. § 6330 to resolve disputes between a taxpayer and the Internal Revenue Service when the IRS is no longer pursuing a levy.
June 12, 2025 - Martin v. United States605 U. S. 395 (2025) · Vacated and remanded9-0
Holding. The Supremacy Clause does not afford the United States a defense in a suit against it under the Federal Tort Claims Act and the law enforcement proviso in Section 2680(h) of the act overrides only the intentional-tort exception in that subsection, not the discretionary-function exception or other exceptions throughout Section 2680.
June 12, 2025 - Parrish v. United States605 U. S. 376 (2025)8-1 · Gorsuch dissenting
Holding. A litigant who files a notice of appeal after the original appeal deadline but before the federal court grants reopening under 28 U.S.C. § 2107(a)-(b) need not file a second notice after reopening, because the original notice relates forward to the date reopening is granted.
June 12, 2025 - Soto v. United States605 U. S. 360 (2025)9-0
Holding. The CRSC — a statute providing “combat-related special compensation” to qualifying veterans who have suffered combat-related disabilities — confers authority to settle CRSC claims and thus displaces the settlement procedures and limitations period under the Barring Act.
June 12, 2025 - A. J. T. v. Osseo Area Schools, Independent School Dist. No. 279605 U. S. 335 (2025)9-0
Holding. Schoolchildren bringing claims related to their education under either Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act are not required to make a heightened showing of “bad faith or gross misjudgment” but instead are subject to the same standards that apply in other disability discrimination contexts.
June 12, 2025 - Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings v. Davis605 U. S. 303 (2025)8-1 · Kavanaugh dissenting
Holding. Certiorari dismissed as improvidently granted.
June 5, 2025 - Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services605 U. S. 303 (2025)9-0
Holding. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit’s “background circumstances” rule — which requires members of a majority group to satisfy a heightened evidentiary standard to prevail on a Title VII discrimination claim — cannot be squared with either the text of Title VII or the Supreme Court’s precedents.
June 5, 2025 - Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos605 U. S. 280 (2025)9-0
Holding. Because Mexico’s complaint does not plausibly allege that the defendant gun manufacturers aided and abetted gun dealers’ unlawful sales of firearms to Mexican traffickers, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act bars the lawsuit.
June 5, 2025 - Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Comm’n.605 U. S. 238 (2025)9-0
Holding. The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision denying Catholic Charities Bureau a tax exemption available to religious entities under Wisconsin law on the grounds that they were not “operated primarily for religious purposes” because they neither engaged in proselytization nor limited their charitable services to Catholics violated the First Amendment.
June 5, 2025 - CC/Devas (Mauritius) Ltd. v. Antrix Corp.605 U. S. 223 (2025) · Reversed and remanded9-0
Holding. To exercise personal jurisdiction over a foreign state, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act does not require proof of “minimum contacts” over and above the contacts already required by the act’s enumerated exceptions to foreign sovereign immunity.
June 5, 2025 - BLOM Bank SAL v. Honickman605 U. S. 204 (2025) · Reversed and remanded9-0
Holding. Relief under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(6) requires extraordinary circumstances, and this standard does not become less demanding when the movant seeks to reopen a case to amend a complaint; a party must first satisfy Rule 60(b) before Rule 15(a)’s liberal amendment standard can apply.
June 5, 2025 - Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County605 U. S. 168 (2025)8-0
Holding. The D.C. Circuit failed to afford the U.S. Surface Transportation Board the substantial judicial deference required in National Environmental Policy Act cases and incorrectly interpreted NEPA to require the Board to consider the environmental effects of upstream and downstream projects that are separate in time or place from the Uinta Basin Railway.
May 29, 2025 - OK Charter School Board v. Drummond605 U. S. 165 (2025)4-4 · dissenting
Holding. Judgment affirmed by an equally divided court.
May 22, 2025 - Kousisis v. United States605 U. S. 114 (2025)9-0
Holding. A defendant who induces a victim to enter into a transaction under materially false pretenses may be convicted of federal fraud even if the defendant did not seek to cause the victim economic loss.
May 22, 2025 - A.A.R.P. v. Trump605 U. S. 91 (2025)7-2 · Alito, Thomas dissentingMay 16, 2025
- Barnes v. Felix605 U. S. 73 (2025)9-0
Holding. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit’s moment-of-threat rule — a framework for evaluating police shootings which requires a court to look only to the circumstances existing at the precise time an officer perceived the threat inducing him to shoot — improperly narrows the Fourth Amendment analysis of police use of force.
May 15, 2025 - Feliciano v. Department Of Transportation605 U. S. 38 (2025) · Reversed and remanded5-4 · Thomas, Alito, Kagan, Jackson dissenting
Holding. A federal civilian employee called to active duty pursuant to “any other provision of law... during a national emergency” as described in 10 U.S.C. § 101(a)(13)(B) is entitled to differential pay if the reservist’s service temporally coincides with a declared national emergency without any showing that the service bears a substantive connection to a particular emergency.
April 30, 2025 - Advocate Christ Medical Center v. Kennedy605 U. S. 1 (2025)7-2 · Jackson, Sotomayor dissenting
Holding. In calculating the Medicare fraction, an individual is “entitled to supplementary security income benefits” when she is eligible to receive an SSI cash payment during the month of her hospitalization.
April 29, 2025 - Monsalvo Velazquez v. Bondi604 U. S. 712 (2025)5-4 · Thomas, Alito, Kavanaugh, Barrett dissenting
Holding. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1229c(b)(2), a voluntary-departure deadline that falls on a weekend or legal holiday extends to the next business day.
April 22, 2025 - Cunningham v. Cornell Univ.604 U. S. 693 (2025)9-0
Holding. To state a claim under Section 1106(a)(1)(C), a plaintiff need only plausibly allege the elements contained in that provision itself, without addressing potential Section 1108 exemptions.
April 17, 2025 - Trump v. J. G. G.604 U. S. 670 (2025)5-4 · Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson, Barrett dissentingApril 7, 2025
- Department of Education v. California604 U. S. 650 (2025)5-4 · Kagan, Jackson, Sotomayor dissentingApril 4, 2025
- Medical Marijuana, Inc. v. Horn604 U. S. 593 (2025)5-4 · Thomas, Kavanaugh, Roberts, Alito dissenting
Holding. Under civil RICO, a plaintiff may seek treble damages for business or property loss even if the loss resulted from a personal injury.
April 2, 2025 - FDA v. Wages and White Lion Investments, LLC604 U. S. 542 (2025)9-0
Holding. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit erred in setting aside as arbitrary and capricious the FDA's orders denying respondents' applications for authorization to market new e-cigarette products pursuant to The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009; the 5th Circuit also relied on an incorrect standard to reject the FDA's claim of harmless error regarding the agency's failure to consider marketing plans submitted by respondents.
April 2, 2025 - United States v. Miller604 U. S. 518 (2025)8-1 · Gorsuch dissenting
Holding. Section 106(a) of the Bankruptcy Code abrogates the government's sovereign immunity with respect to a Section 544(b) claim but that waiver does not extend to state-law claims nested within that federal claim.
March 26, 2025 - Bondi v. Vanderstok604 U. S. 458 (2025)7-2 · Thomas, Alito dissenting
Holding. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives's 2022 rule interpreting the Gun Control Act of 1968 to cover certain products that can readily be converted into an operational firearm or a functional frame or receiver is not facially inconsistent with the act.
March 26, 2025 - Delligatti v. United States604 U. S. 423 (2025)7-2 · Gorsuch, Jackson dissenting
Holding. The knowing or intentional causation of injury or death, whether by act or omission, necessarily involves the "use" of "physical force" against another person within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3)(A).
March 21, 2025 - Thompson v. United States604 U. S. 408 (2025)9-0
Holding. Title 18 U.S.C. § 1014, which prohibits "knowingly mak[ing] any false statement," does not criminalize statements that are misleading but not false.
March 21, 2025 - Bufkin v. Collins604 U. S. 369 (2025)7-2 · Jackson, Gorsuch dissenting
Holding. The Department of Veterans Affairs' determination that the evidence regarding a service-related disability claim is in "approximate balance" pursuant to the benefit-of-the-doubt rule in 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b) is a predominantly factual determination reviewed only for clear error.
March 5, 2025 - City and County of San Francisco v. EPA604 U. S. 334 (2025)5-4 · Barrett, Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson dissenting
Holding. The challenged end-result permitting provisions "which make the permittee responsible for the quality of the water in the body of water into which the permittee discharges pollutants" exceed the Environmental Protection Agency's authority under the Clean Water Act.
March 4, 2025 - Dewberry Group, Inc. v. Dewberry Engineers Inc.604 U. S. 321 (2025)9-0
Holding. In awarding the "defendant's profits" to the prevailing plaintiff in a trademark infringement suit under the Lanham Act, a court can award only profits ascribable to the "defendant" itself.
February 26, 2025 - Waetzig v. Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.604 U. S. 305 (2025)9-0
Holding. A case voluntarily dismissed without prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a) counts as a "final proceeding" under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b).
February 26, 2025 - Glossip v. Oklahoma604 U. S. 226 (2025)5-3 · Thomas, Alito, Barrett dissenting
Holding. The court has jurisdiction to review the judgment of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals; the prosecution violated its constitutional obligation to correct false testimony under Napue v. Illinois.
February 25, 2025 - Lackey v. Stinnie604 U. S. 192 (2025)7-2 · Jackson, Sotomayor dissenting
Holding. Plaintiffs who gained only preliminary injunctive relief before this action became moot do not qualify as "prevailing part[ies]" eligible for attorney's fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b) because no court conclusively resolved their claims by granting enduring relief on the merits that altered the legal relationship between the parties.
February 25, 2025 - Williams v. Reed604 U. S. 168 (2025)5-4 · Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Barrett dissenting
Holding. Where a state court's application of a state exhaustion requirement in effect immunizes state officials from 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims challenging delays in the administrative process, state courts may not deny those claims on failure-to-exhaust grounds.
February 21, 2025 - Wisconsin Bell, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Heath604 U. S. 140 (2025)9-0
Holding. The E-Rate reimbursement requests at issue are "claims" under the False Claims Act because the government "provided" (at a minimum) a "portion" of the money applied for by transferring more than $100 million from the Treasury into the fund.
February 21, 2025 - Hungary v. Simon604 U. S. 115 (2025)9-0
Holding. An allegation that a foreign sovereign liquidated expropriated property, commingled the proceeds with other funds, and then used some of those commingled funds for commercial activities in the United States cannot alone satisfy the commercial nexus requirement of the expropriation exception in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976.
February 21, 2025 - Andrew v. White7-2 · Thomas, Gorsuch dissenting
Holding. At the time of the decision of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, clearly established federal law provided that the erroneous admission of unduly prejudicial evidence could render a criminal trial fundamentally unfair in violation of due process; the judgment below is vacated and the case is remanded for further proceedings.
January 21, 2025 - TikTok Inc. v. Garland604 U. S. 56 (2025)9-0
Holding. The challenged provisions of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act do not violate petitioners' First Amendment rights.
January 17, 2025 - E.M.D. Sales, Inc. v. Carrera604 U. S. 45 (2025)9-0
Holding. The preponderance-of-the-evidence standard applies when an employer seeks to demonstrate that an employee is exempt from the minimum-wage and overtime-pay provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
January 15, 2025 - Royal Canin U. S. A. v. Wullschleger604 U. S. 22 (2025)9-0
Holding. When a plaintiff amends her complaint to delete the federal-law claims that enabled removal to federal court, leaving only state-law claims behind, the federal court loses supplemental jurisdiction over the state claims, and the case must be remanded to state court.
January 15, 2025 - NVIDIA v. E. Ohman J:or Fonder AB9-0
Holding. Certiorari dismissed as improvidently granted.
December 11, 2024 - Bouarfa v. Mayorkas604 U. S. 6 (2024)9-0
Holding. Revocation of an approved visa petition under 8 U.S.C. § 1155 based on a sham-marriage determination by the Secretary of Homeland Security is the kind of discretionary decision that falls within the purview of Section 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii), which strips federal courts of jurisdiction to review certain actions "in the discretion of" the agency.
December 10, 2024 - Facebook, Inc. v. Amalgamated Bank604 U. S. 4 (2024)
Holding. Certiorari dismissed as improvidently granted.
November 22, 2024 - Hamm v. Smith604 U. S. 1 (2024)9-0
Holding. The judgment is vacated and the case is remanded to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to clarify the basis for its decision affirming the district court's judgment that Joseph Clifton Smith is ineligible for the death penalty due to intellectual disability.
November 4, 2024