Volume 409 — United States Reports

This is a list of all United States Supreme Court cases from volume 409 of the United States Reports:

Four employees of respondent refused to cross a picket line formed in connection with a union's organization campaign. Held: The unconditional reinstatement of the employees was proper since their discriminatory discharges prior to the time their places were filled constituted unfair labor practices regardless of whether they were economic strikers or unfair labor practice strikers. Pp. 52—53. 448 F.2d 905, reversed in part. Peter G.

Petitioner was denied a trial before a disinterested and impartial judicial officer as guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment where he was compelled to stand trial for traffic offenses before the mayor, who was responsible for village finances and whose court through fines, forfeitures, costs, and fees provided a substantial portion of village funds. Tumey v. Ohio, 273 U.S. 510, 47 S.Ct. 437, 71 L.Ed. 749.

Gottschalk v. Benson, 409 U.S. 63 (1972), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that a process claim directed to a numerical algorithm, as such, was not patentable because "the patent would wholly pre-empt the mathematical formula and in practical effect would be a patent on the algorithm itself." That would be tantamount to allowing a patent on an abstract idea, contrary to precedent dating back to the middle of the 19th century. The ruling stated "Direct attempts to patent programs have been rejected [and] indirect attempts to obtain patents and avoid the rejection ... have confused the issue further and should not be permitted." The case was argued on October 16, 1972, and was decided November 20, 1972.

Following hearings, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control issued regulations prohibiting explicitly sexual live… Held: In the context, not of censoring dramatic performances in a theater, but of licensing bars and nightclubs to sell liquor by the drink, the States have broad latitude under the Twenty-first Amendment to control the manner and circumstances under which liquor may be dispensed, and here the conclusion that sale of liquor by the drink…

Implicit in that portion of Art. 16 of the Inland Rules of Navigation that directs a moderate speed for vessels proceeding in foggy weather, and in the concomitant half-distance rule, is the assumption that vessels can reasonably be expected to be traveling on intersecting courses. On the facts of this case, it was totally unrealistic to anticipate the possibility that the vessels were on intersecting courses and the rule was not applicable.

The Expediting Act, providing that in a civil antitrust action brought by the United States in a federal district court an appeal from that court's final judgment will lie only to this Court, lodged exclusive appellate jurisdiction over such actions in this Court and thus bars the courts of appeals from asserting jurisdiction over interlocutory orders covered by 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b), as well as over other interlocutory orders specified in § 1292(a).

Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188 (1972), was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1972. The case concerned the reliability of a police lineup.

Two tenants of an apartment complex filed complaints with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development alleging that their landlord… Held: The definition in § 810(a) of 'person aggrieved,' as 'any person who claims to have been injured by a discriminatory housing practice,' shows a congressional intention to define standing as broadly as is permitted by Article III of the Constitution, and petitioners, being tenants of the apartment complex, have standing to sue under §…

Where neither the Union-employer contract nor the Union's constitution or bylaws defined or limited the circumstances under which a member could resign from the Union, it was an unfair labor practice for the Union to fine employees who had been Union members in good standing but who had resigned during a lawful strike authorized by the members and thereafter returned to work during that strike. Pp. 215—218. 446 F.2d 369, reversed.

During respondent's trial for murder he challenged the voluntariness of his confession. Held: The trial court's Jackson v. Denno error, if any, was remedied by the constitutionally adequate evidentiary hearing given respondent on the voluntariness issue by the St. Louis court, which the Missouri Supreme Court upheld after concluding from its independent examination of the record that the confession was voluntary.

Causing a publication to be carried by a facility of interstate commerce with an intent to facilitate the operation of an illegal gambling business is a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1952. The exception for 'any newspaper or similar publication' contained in 18 U.S.C. § 1953, which prohibits the interstate shipment of certain gambling paraphernalia, was not intended to be read into § 1952. Pp. 242—248. 452 F.2d 967, affirmed. Charles W. Grubb, Cedar Lake, Ind., for petitioners.

Petitioners, invoking federal admiralty jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1333(1), brought suit for damages resulting from the crash-landing… Held: Neither the fact that an aircraft goes down on navigable waters nor that the negligence 'occurs' while the aircraft is flying over such waters is sufficient to confer federal admiralty jurisdiction over aviation tort claims, and in the absence of legislation to the contrary such jurisdiction exists with respect to those claims only…

Incident to South Carolina's valid scheme of regulating the sale of liquor within the State, a requirement that a manufacturer do more, as a condition of doing business, than merely solicit sales is not impermissible even though it has the effect of requiring the out-of-state manufacturer to undertake activities that eliminate its protection under 15 U.S.C. § 381(a) from the state income tax. Pp. 278—284. 257 S.C. 17, 183 S.E.2d 710, affirmed.

Held: The Court of Appeals correctly determined that the antitrust proceedings should be stayed until the Commodity Exchange Commission can pass on the validity of respondents' conduct under the Commodity Exchange Act.

Petitioner challenges an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) summons directing an accountant, an independent contractor with numerous clients, to produce business records that she had been giving to him… Held: On the facts of this case, where petitioner had effectively surrendered possession of the records to the accountant, there was no personal compulsion against petitioner to produce the records.

Bronston v. United States, 409 U.S. 352 (1973), is a seminal United States Supreme Court decision strictly construing the federal perjury statute. Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote for a unanimous Court that responses to questions made under oath that relayed truthful information in and of themselves but were intended to mislead or evade the examiner could not be prosecuted. Instead, the criminal-justice system had to rely on more carefully worded follow-up questions. The decision has been cited in many cases since then and has become the controlling legal standard of perjury in federal jurisprudence. It was invoked during Bill Clinton's impeachment proceedings in 1998 as a defense to charges of perjury against him.

Trans World Airlines (TWA) brought this antitrust action against the Hughes Tool Co. (Toolco) and others for treble damages as a result of the manner in which Toolco had exercised its controlling… Held: The transactions that TWA challenged as violative of the antitrust laws were under the CAB's control and surveillance, and, by virtue of §§ 408 and 414 of the Federal Aviation Act, had immunity under the antitrust laws.

A Social Security Act provision, 42 U.S.C. § 407, which prohibits subjecting federal disability insurance benefits and other benefits to any legal process bars a State from recovering such benefits retroactively paid to a beneficiary, and in this case no exception can be implied on the ground that if the federal payments had been made monthly there would have been a corresponding reduction in the state payments. Pp. 415—417. 59 N.J. 75, 279 A.2d 806, reversed.

The District of Columbia is not a 'State or Territory' within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and the Court of Appeals therefore erred insofar as that court sustained respondent's claims for deprivation of civil rights pursuant to that statute. Pp. 420—433. 144 U.S.App.D.C. 388, 447 F.2d 358, reversed. Richard W. Barton Washington, D.C., for petitioner. Warren K. Kaplan, Washington, D.C., for respondent. Mr.

Appellee, an indigent who filed a voluntary petition in bankruptcy, sought discharge without payment of the fees, aggregating no more… Held: This case is not controlled by Boddie, supra, For here access to courts is not the only conceivable relief available to bankrupts; the filing-fee requyirement does not deny an indigent the equal protection of the laws, since there is no constitutional right to obtain a discharge of one's debts in bankruptcy; the right to a discharge…

Before and during the last of several successive leases, petitioner made substantial and permanent improvements that had a useful life in excess of the… Held: In a condemnation proceeding, the concept of 'just compensation' is measured by what a willing buyer would have paid for the improvements, taking into account the possibility that the lease might be renewed as well as that it might not. Pp. 794—797. 450 F.2d 125, reversed and District Court judgment reinstated.

In a condemnation proceeding brought by the United States, respondents made a claim, which the District Court and Court of Appeals upheld, to compensation for… Held: The Fifth Amendment requires no compensation for any value added to the fee lands by the permits, which are revocable and, by the Act's terms, create no property rights. Pp. 490-494. 442 F.2d 504, reversed. Harry R. Sachse, New Orleans, La., for petitioner. Frank Haze Burch, Phoenix, Ariz., for respondents.

Waller v. Florida, 397 U.S. 387, 90 S.Ct. 1184, 25 L.Ed.2d 435, which bars on the ground of double jeopardy two prosecutions, state and municipal, based on the same act or offense, is fully… Held: contrary to the conclusion of the District Court, that Waller is not to be applied retroactively. 7 We do not believe that this case readily lends itself to the analysis established in Linkletter.

Held: Bailey v. Patterson, 369 U. S. 31 (1962), was authority that 28 U. S. C. §2281 did not require the assembly of a three-judge court and that dismissal by the single judge was therefore proper, 452 F. 2d, at 40 . A petition for rehearing en banc was denied, three judges dissenting. We granted certiorari, 408 U. S. 922 (1972).

Ham v. South Carolina, 409 U.S. 524 (1973), was a United States Supreme Court decision concerning examinations of prospective jurors during voir dire. The Court held that the trial court's failure to "have the jurors interrogated on the issue of racial bias" violated the petitioner's due process right under the Fourteenth Amendment. This right does not extend to any question of bias, but it does not preclude questions of relevant biases.

Held: in Alderman v. United States, 394 U.S. 165 , 182, 89 S.Ct. 961, 971, 22 L.Ed.2d 176 (1969), that the issue of relevancy should not be resolved in camera, but in an adversary proceeding.