Cite as: 577 U. S. _ (2016) 1 Decree SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES STATE OF MONTANA v. STATE OF WYOMING AND STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA ON BILL OF COMPLAINT No. 137, Orig. Decided March 21, 2016 ORDER AND JUDGMENT The Court having exercised original jurisdiction over this controversy among sovereign States; the issues hav- ing been tried before the Special Master appointed by this Court; the Court having considered the briefs on the par- ties’ exceptions to the Second Interim Report of the...
Justice SOTOMAYOR delivered the opinion of the Court. Section 289 of the Patent Act provides a damages remedy specific to design patent infringement. A person who manufactures or sells "any article of manufacture to which [a patented] design or colorable imitation has been applied shall be liable to the owner to the extent of his total profit." 35 U.S.C. 289. In the case of a design for a single-component product, such as a dinner plate, the product is the "article of manufacture" to...
Justice GINSBURG delivered the opinion of the Court. This case concerns the issue-preclusion component of the Double Jeopardy Clause. 1 In criminal prosecutions, as in civil litigation, the issue-preclusion principle means that "when an issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit." Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436 , 443, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970). Does issue...
These cases were granted to resolve "[w]hether allegations that members of a business association agreed to adhere to the association's rules and possess governance rights in the association, without more, are sufficient to plead the element of conspiracy in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act...." Pet. for Cert. in No. 15-961, p. i, and No. 15-962, p. i. After "[h]aving persuaded us to grant certiorari" on this issue, however, petitioners "chose to rely on a different argument" in their...
JUSTICE GINSBURG , delivered the opinion of the Court. In response to the high incidence of domestic violence against Native American women, Congress, in 2005, enacted 18 U. S. C. 117(a), which targets serial offenders. Section 117(a) makes it a federal crime for any person to "commi[t] a domestic assault within . . . Indian country" if the person has at least two prior final convictions for domestic violence rendered "in Federal, State, or Indian tribal court proceedings." See Violence...
Justice BREYER delivered the opinion of the Court. In Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 , 878, 112 S.Ct. 2791, 120 L.Ed.2d 674 (1992), a plurality of the Court concluded that there "exists" an "undue burden" on a woman's right to decide to have an abortion, and consequently a provision of law is constitutionally invalid, if the " purpose or effect " of the provision " is to place a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion before the...
PER CURIAM . The judgment is affirmed by an equally divided Court.
Justice KAGAN delivered the opinion of the Court. The Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA or Act), 18 U.S.C. 924(e), imposes a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence on certain federal defendants who have three prior convictions for a "violent felony," including "burglary, arson, or extortion." To determine whether a past conviction is for one of those offenses, courts compare the elements of the crime of conviction with the elements of the "generic" version of the listed offense — i.e., the...
Justice KENNEDY delivered the opinion of the Court. The Court is asked once again to consider whether the race-conscious admissions program at the University of Texas is lawful under the Equal Protection Clause. I The University of Texas at Austin (or University) relies upon a complex system of admissions that has undergone significant evolution over the past two decades. Until 1996, the University made its admissions decisions primarily based on a measure called "Academic Index" (or AI)...
Justice ALITO delivered the opinion of the Court. Drunk drivers take a grisly toll on the Nation's roads, claiming thousands of lives, injuring many more victims, and inflicting billions of dollars in property damage every year. To fight this problem, all States have laws that prohibit motorists from driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) that exceeds a specified level. But determining whether a driver's BAC is over the legal limit requires a test, and many drivers stopped on...
Justice KENNEDY delivered the opinion of the Court. This case addresses whether a federal statute requires payment of increased compensation to certain automobile dealership employees for overtime work. The federal statute in question is the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. 201 et seq., enacted in 1938 to "protect all covered workers from substandard wages and oppressive working hours." Barrentine v. Arkansas-Best Freight System, Inc., 450 U.S. 728 , 739, 101 S.Ct. 1437,...
Justice ALITO delivered the opinion of the Court. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. 1961-1968, created four new criminal offenses involving the activities of organized criminal groups in relation to an enterprise. 1962(a)-(d). RICO also created a new civil cause of action for "[a]ny person injured in his business or property by reason of a violation" of those prohibitions. 1964(c). We are asked to decide whether RICO applies...
Justice THOMAS delivered the opinion of the Court. The False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. 3729 et seq., imposes significant penalties on those who defraud the Government. This case concerns a theory of False Claims Act liability commonly referred to as "implied false certification." According to this theory, when a defendant submits a claim, it impliedly certifies compliance with all conditions of payment. But if that claim fails to disclose the defendant's violation of a material statutory,...
Justice THOMAS delivered the opinion of the Court. The Federal Bankruptcy Code pre-empts state bankruptcy laws that enable insolvent municipalities to restructure their debts over the objections of creditors and instead requires municipalities to restructure such debts under Chapter 9 of the Code. 11 U.S.C. 903(1). We must decide whether Puerto Rico is a "State" for purposes of this pre-emption provision. We hold that it is. The Bankruptcy Code has long included Puerto Rico as a "State,...
Chief Justice ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the Court. Section 284 of the Patent Act provides that, in a case of infringement, courts "may increase the damages up to three times the amount found or assessed." 35 U.S.C. 284. In In re Seagate Technology, LLC, 497 F.3d 1360 (2007) (en banc), the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit adopted a two-part test for determining when a district court may increase damages pursuant to 284. Under Seagate, a patent owner...
Justice KENNEDY delivered the opinion of the Court. In this case, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania vacated the decision of a postconviction court, which had granted relief to a prisoner convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. One of the justices on the State Supreme Court had been the district attorney who gave his official approval to seek the death penalty in the prisoner's case. The justice in question denied the prisoner's motion for recusal and participated in the...
Chief Justice ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the Court. The Clean Water Act regulates the discharge of pollutants into "the waters of the United States." 33 U.S.C. 1311(a), 1362(7), (12). Because it can be difficult to determine whether a particular parcel of property contains such waters, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will issue to property owners an "approved jurisdictional determination" stating the agency's definitive view on that matter. See 33 CFR 331.2 and pt. 331, App. C...
Justice SOTOMAYOR delivered the opinion of the Court. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 78 Stat. 253, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq., prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, or retaliating against their employees for opposing or seeking relief from such discrimination. Before a federal civil servant can sue his employer for violating Title VII, he must, among other things, "initiate contact" with an Equal...
Justice GINSBURG delivered the opinion of the Court. The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that "[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury...." Does the Sixth Amendment's speedy trial guarantee apply to the sentencing phase of a criminal prosecution That is the sole question this case presents. We hold that the guarantee protects the accused from arrest or indictment through trial, but does not...
PER CURIAM . Petitioners are primarily nonprofit organizations that provide health insurance to their employees. Federal regulations require petitioners to cover certain contraceptives as part of their health plans, unless petitioners submit a form either to their insurer or to the Federal Government, stating that they object on religious grounds to providing contraceptive coverage. Petitioners allege that submitting this notice substantially burdens the exercise of their religion, in...
