Chief Justice ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the Court. Petitioners, a group of Nigerian nationals residing in the United States, filed suit in federal court against certain Dutch, British, and Nigerian corporations. Petitioners sued under the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. 1350, alleging that the corporations aided and abetted the Nigerian Government in committing violations of the law of nations in Nigeria. The question presented is whether and under what circumstances courts may...
For U.S. Supreme Court briefs, see: 2012 WL 3527850 (Reply.Brief) 2012 WL 2883261 (Resp.Brief) 2012 WL 1098269 (PetBrief) Justice KAGAN delivered the opinion of the Court. A federal employee subjected to an adverse personnel action such as a discharge or demotion may appeal her agency's decision to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB or Board). See 5 U.S.C. 7512, 7701. In that challenge, the employee may claim, among other things, that the agency discriminated against her in...
Justice GINSBURG delivered the opinion of the Court. Periodically from 1993 until 2000, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) authorized flooding that extended into the peak growing season for timber on forest land owned and managed by petitioner, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (Commission). Cumulative in effect, the repeated flooding damaged or destroyed more than 18 million board feet of timber and disrupted the ordinary use and enjoyment of the Commission's property. The Commission...
Justice SCALIA delivered the opinion of the Court. The Little Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. 1346(a)(2), provides that "[t]he district courts shall have original jurisdiction, concurrent with the United States Court of Federal Claims, of ... [a]ny ... civil action or claim against the United States, not exceeding $10,000 in amount, founded ... upon ... any Act of Congress." We consider whether the Little Tucker Act waives the sovereign immunity of the United States with respect to damages actions for...
Justice KENNEDY delivered the opinion of the Court. To address pressing issues related to the large number of aliens within its borders who do not have a lawful right to be in this country, the State of Arizona in 2010 enacted a statute called the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act. The law is often referred to as S.B. 1070, the version introduced in the state senate. See also H. 2162 (2010) (amending S. 1070). Its stated purpose is to "discourage and deter the unlawful...
Justice KAGAN delivered the opinion of the Court. The two 14-year-old offenders in these cases were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. In neither case did the sentencing authority have any discretion to impose a different punishment. State law mandated that each juvenile die in prison even if a judge or jury would have thought that his youth and its attendant characteristics, along with the nature of his crime, made a lesser sentence (for...
Justice SOTOMAYOR delivered the opinion of the Court. The Sixth Amendment reserves to juries the determination of any fact, other than the fact of a prior conviction, that increases a criminal defendant's maximum potential sentence. Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 , 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000); Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296 , 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004). We have applied this principle in numerous cases where the sentence was imprisonment or death. The...
Justice BREYER delivered the opinion of the Court. Federal statutes impose mandatory minimum prison sentences upon those convicted of federal drug crimes. These statutes typically base the length of a minimum prison term upon the kind and amount of the drug involved. Until 2010, the relevant statute imposed upon an offender who dealt in powder cocaine the same sentence it imposed upon an offender who dealt in one one-hundredth that amount of crack cocaine. It imposed, for example, the same...
Justice KENNEDY delivered the opinion of the Court. In FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc., 556 U.S. 502 , 529, 129 S.Ct. 1800 , 173 L.Ed.2d 738 (2009) (Fox I), the Court held that the Federal Communication Commission's decision to modify its indecency enforcement regime to regulate so-called fleeting expletives was neither arbitrary nor capricious. The Court then declined to address the constitutionality of the policy, however, because the United States Court of Appeals for the Second...
Justice ALITO delivered the opinion of the Court. In this case, we decide whether the First Amendment allows a public-sector union to require objecting nonmembers to pay a special fee for the purpose of financing the union's political and ideological activities. I A Under California law, public-sector employees in a bargaining unit may decide by majority vote to create an "agency shop" arrangement under which all the employees are represented by a union selected by the majority. Cal. Govt....
Justice SOTOMAYOR delivered the opinion of the Court. The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDA), 25 U.S.C. 450 et seq., directs the Secretary of the Interior to enter into contracts with willing tribes, pursuant to which those tribes will provide services such as education and law enforcement that otherwise would have been provided by the Federal Government. ISDA mandates that the Secretary shall pay the full amount of "contract support costs" incurred by tribes in...
Justice KAGAN delivered the opinion of the Court. A provision of the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), 25 U.S.C. 465, authorizes the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) to acquire property "for the purpose of providing land for Indians." Ch. 576, 5, 48 Stat. 985. The Secretary here acquired land in trust for an Indian tribe seeking to open a casino. Respondent David Patchak lives near that land and challenges the Secretary's decision in a suit brought under the Administrative Procedure...
Justice ALITO delivered the opinion of the Court. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) imposes minimum wage and maximum hours requirements on employers, see 29 U.S.C. 206-207 (2006 ed. and Supp. IV), but those requirements do not apply to workers employed "in the capacity of outside salesman," 213(a)(1). This case requires us to decide whether the term "outside salesman," as defined by Department of Labor (DOL or Department) regulations, encompasses pharmaceutical sales representatives...
Justice THOMAS delivered the opinion of the Court. This case requires us to decide whether two federal law enforcement agents are immune from suit for allegedly arresting a suspect in retaliation for his political speech, when the agents had probable cause to arrest the suspect for committing a federal crime. I On June 16, 2006, Vice President Richard Cheney visited a shopping mall in Beaver Creek, Colorado. A Secret Service protective detail accompanied the Vice President. Petitioners Gus...
Justice BREYER delivered the opinion of the Court. For many years, an Indiana statute, the "Barrett Law," authorized Indiana's cities to impose upon benefited lot owners the cost of sewer improvement projects. The Law also permitted those lot owners to pay either immediately in the form of a lump sum or over time in installments. In 2005, the city of Indianapolis (City) adopted a new assessment and payment method, the "STEP" plan, and it forgave any Barrett Law installments that lot owners had...
Justice SCALIA delivered the opinion of the Court. We consider whether a Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan may be confirmed over the objection of a secured creditor pursuant to 11 U.S.C. 1129(b)(2)(A) if the plan provides for the sale of collateral free and clear of the creditor's lien, but does not permit the creditor to "credit-bid" at the sale. I In 2007, petitioners RadLAX Gateway Hotel, LLC, and RadLAX Gateway Deck, LLC (hereinafter debtors), purchased the Radisson Hotel at Los Angeles...
Chief Justice ROBERTS delivered the opinion of the Court. The Double Jeopardy Clause protects against being tried twice for the same offense. The Clause does not, however, bar a second trial if the first ended in a mistrial. Before the jury concluded deliberations in this case, it reported that it was unanimous against guilt on charges of capital murder and first-degree murder, was deadlocked on manslaughter, and had not voted on negligent homicide. The court told the jury to continue to...
Justice SCALIA delivered the opinion of the Court. A provision of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), codified at 12 U.S.C. 2607(b), prohibits giving and accepting "any portion, split, or percentage of any charge made or received for the rendering of a real estate settlement service... other than for services actually performed." We consider whether, to establish a violation of 2607(b), 1 a plaintiff must demonstrate that a charge was divided between two or more persons. I...
Justice GINSBURG delivered the opinion of the Court. Karen and Robert Capato married in 1999. Robert died of cancer less than three years later. With the help of in vitro fertilization, Karen gave birth to twins 18 months after her husband's death. Karen's application for Social Security survivors benefits for the twins, which the Social Security Administration (SSA) denied, prompted this litigation. The technology that made the twins' conception and birth possible, it is safe to say, was...
Justice KAGAN delivered the opinion of the Court. An immigration statute, 8 U.S.C. 1229b(a), authorizes the Attorney General to cancel the removal of an alien from the United States so long as the alien satisfies certain criteria. One of those criteria relates to the length of time an alien has lawfully resided in the United States, and another to the length of time he has held permanent resident status here. We consider whether the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA or Board) could...
