Volume 475 — United States Reports

Pacific Gas & Electric v. Public Utilities Commission, 475 U.S. 1 (1986), was a United States Supreme Court case involving a dispute over newsletters that the San Francisco–based privately owned public utility Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) had included with its monthly bills to customers. The special interest group Toward Utility Rate Normalization (TURN) sued PG&E, arguing that the extra space in the billing envelope taken by the newsletters constituted a form of political speech whose cost the public should not have to bear.

Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc., 475 U.S. 41 (1986), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that localities may impose regulations prohibiting adult theaters from operating within certain areas, finding that the regulation in question was a content-neutral time/place/manner restriction. The specific restriction at issue was established by Renton, Washington, and prohibited adult theaters within 1,000 feet from any residential zone, single- or multiple-family dwelling, church, park, or school.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging respondents and cross-petitioners (hereafter defendants) with drug-related offenses and conspiracy, and later returned a superseding indictment… Held: However diligent the defendants may have been in seeking to discover the basis for the claimed violation of Rule 6(d), the petit jury's guilty verdict rendered harmless any error in the grand jury's charging decision that may have flowed from the violation.

Held: “All creeks, havens, coves, and inlets lying within projecting headlands and islands, and all bays and arms of the sea lying within and between lands not so wide but that persons and objects on the one side can be discerned by the naked eye by persons on the opposite side, are taken to be within the body of the county.” Chief Judge Shaw’s adoption of the Coke test in Peters is consistent with Judge Story’s earlier…

New York v. Class, 475 U.S. 106 (1986), was a United States Supreme Court decision in which the Court held that a person has no reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment when police look for a vehicle identification numbers after they have developed reasonable suspicion.

Respondent was tried before a jury in a Texas District Court and convicted of murder. He elected to be sentenced by the jury, as was his right under Texas law, and the jury imposed a 20-year sentence. Held: The Due Process Clause was not violated by the trial judge's imposition of a greater sentence on retrial. Pp. 137-144. (a) The facts of this case provide no basis for a Pearce presumption of vindictiveness.

Nix v. Whiteside, 475 U.S. 157 (1986), was a United States Supreme Court decision that dealt with the effective assistance of counsel during a criminal trial.

In 1970, the National Labor Relations Board (Board) certified the Firstbank Independent Employees Association (Firstbank) as the collective-bargaining representative of a bargaining unit consisting… Held: The Board exceeded its authority under the Act in requiring that nonunion employees be allowed to vote for affiliation before it would order the employer to bargain with the affiliated union. Pp. 198-209.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), enacted in 1974, established a pension plan termination insurance program whereby the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), a wholly owned… Held: The withdrawal liability provisions of the MPPAA do not violate the Taking Clause. Pp. 221-228.

Respondent and another man (Daugherty) robbed a bank in Ohio. After an automobile chase, the police surrounded the two men when they stopped at a farmhouse. Held: Reducing respondent's concededly jeopardy-barred conviction for aggravated murder to a conviction for murder that concededly was not jeopardy barred was an adequate remedy for the double jeopardy violation. Pp. 244-248.

A Berkeley, California, ordinance, enacted pursuant to popular initiative, imposes rent ceilings on residential real property in the city. Held: The ordinance is not unconstitutional as being pre-empted by the Sherman Act. Pp. 264-270. (a) The rent ceilings established by the ordinance and maintained by the Rent Stabilization Board were unilaterally imposed by the city upon landlords to the exclusion of private control.

A Wisconsin statute debars persons or firms who have violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) three times within a 5-year period from doing… Held: The NLRA pre-empts the Wisconsin debarment statute. Pp. 286-291. (a) States are prevented not only from setting forth standards of conduct inconsistent with the NLRA's substantive requirements, but also from providing their own regulatory or judicial remedies for conduct prohibited or arguably prohibited by the NLRA.

Petitioner Chicago Teachers Union has been the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of the Chicago Board of Education's educational employees since 1967. Approximately 95% of the employees are members of the Union. Until 1982, the members' dues financed the entire cost of the Union's collective bargaining and contract administration, and nonmembers received the benefits of the Union's representation without making any contributions to its cost.

Whitley v. Albers, 475 U.S. 312 (1986), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that prison staff are not generally liable for the use of excessive force during prison disturbances such as a hostage situation where a guard is taken.

On the basis of the monitoring of two telephone calls pursuant to a court-authorized wiretap of the telephone of an acquaintance of respondents' daughter, petitioner Rhode Island state trooper… Held: Petitioner is not entitled to absolute immunity but only to qualified immunity from liability for damages. Pp. 339-346. (a) Neither the common law nor public policy affords any support for absolute immunity.

The New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act (Spill Act), enacted in 1977 to respond to the problem of hazardous substance release, imposes an excise tax upon major… Held: The words "costs of response or damages or claims" in § 114(c) are to be read as a unit, and the entire phrase is modified by the phrase "which may be compensated under this subchapter," thus pre-empting any special state tax fund used to reimburse either a State or a third party for cleanup expenses.

Held: "[W]hen a hearsay declarant is not present for cross-examination at trial, the Confrontation Clause normally requires a showing that he is unavailable. Even then, his statement is admissible only if it bears adequate `indicia of reliability.' " Id., at 66 (quoting Dutton v. Evans, 400 U. S. 74, 89 (1970) (plurality opinion)).

After respondent was arrested by the Cranston, Rhode Island, police in connection with a breaking and entering, the police obtained evidence suggesting that he might be responsible for the murder of… Held: The Court of Appeals erred in construing the Fifth Amendment to require the exclusion of respondent's confessions.

Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati, 475 U.S. 469 (1986), is a United States Supreme Court case that clarified a previous case, Monell v. Department of Social Services (1978), and established that municipalities can be held liable even for a single decision that is improperly made.

Goldman v. Weinberger, 475 U.S. 503 (1986), was a United States Supreme Court case in which a Jewish Air Force officer was denied the right to wear a yarmulke when in uniform on the grounds that the Free Exercise Clause applies less strictly to the military than to ordinary citizens.

Held: parents have standing to challenge conditions in public schools that their children attend. See Engel v. Vitale, 370 U. S. 421 (1962); Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U. S. 306 (1952).

Holbrook v. Flynn, 475 U.S. 560 (1986), was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court regarding the Sixth Amendment's right to an impartial jury.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574 (1986), was an antitrust case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. It raised the standard for surviving summary judgment to unambiguous evidence that tends to exclude an innocent interpretation. Specifically, the issue was whether there was a horizontal "agreement" between Matsushita Electric and other Japanese television manufacturers. The Court held that the evidence must tend to exclude the possibility of independent action to be sufficient to survive summary judgment.

Golden State Transit Corp v City of Los Angeles, 475 U.S. 608 (1986), is a US labor law case, concerning the scope of federal preemption against state law for labor rights.

Michigan v. Jackson, 475 U.S. 625 (1986), was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court regarding the Sixth Amendment's right to counsel in a police interrogation. In a decision written by Justice Stevens, the Court held that once an accused individual has claimed a right to counsel at a plea hearing or other court proceeding, a waiver of that right during later police questioning would be invalid unless the accused individual initiated the communication.

Petitioner employer and respondent Union are parties to a collective-bargaining agreement covering telephone equipment installation workers. Held: The issue whether, because of express exclusion or other evidence, the dispute over interpretation of Article 20 was subject to the arbitration clause, should have been decided by the District Court and reviewed by the Court of Appeals, and should not have been referred to the arbitrator. Pp. 648-657.

Section 5 of the Flood Control Act of 1944 (Act) authorizes the Secretary of Energy (Secretary), acting through Administrators of regional Power Marketing Administrations, to fix rates for the sale… Held: Neither the Act nor the power purchase contracts at issue preclude the Secretary from making hydroelectric power rates effective upon interim confirmation and approval, even though further administrative review is still pending. Pp. 665-672.

During respondent's murder trial, the Delaware trial court refused to allow defense counsel to cross-examine a prosecution witness about an agreement that he had made to speak… Held: While the trial court's denial of respondent's opportunity to impeach the prosecution witness for bias violated respondent's rights under the Confrontation Clause, such ruling is subject to harmless-error analysis under Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967).

Respondents were employed by petitioner as members of the Engineering Department on board a nonself-propelled fish-processing barge. Held: The Court of Appeals erred in engaging in such factfinding.

The Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Awards Act of 1976 (Fees Act) provides that "the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party . . . a reasonable attorney's fee" in enumerated civil… Held: The District Court had the power, in its discretion, to approve the waiver of attorney's fees. Pp. 730-738.

Philadelphia Newspapers v. Hepps, 475 U.S. 767 (1986), is a United States Supreme Court case decided April 21, 1986.

Aetna Life Insurance Co. v. Lavoie, 475 U.S. 813 (1986), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held the Due Process Clause requires state supreme court justices to recuse themselves from cases in which they have a direct, personal, substantial, and pecuniary interest in the outcome.

Section 511(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code imposes a tax on the "unrelated business taxable income" of tax-exempt organizations. Held: Respondent must pay a tax on the profits it earns from the advertisements. Pp. 837-850. (a) It is undisputed that respondent's publication of paid advertising is a "trade or business" and that the business is "regularly carried on." Pp. 839-841.

The Internal Revenue Code (IRC) allows an individual responsible for the support of a child living with him a credit against income taxes due equal to a certain percentage of so much of… Held: An excess earned-income credit can properly be intercepted under the applicable statutes. Pp. 859-865. (a) The IRC's treatment of earned-income credits supports the Government's position. The refundability of that credit is inseparable from its classification as an overpayment of tax.

Following an investigation by the Erie County, N.Y., District Attorney's Office, an investigator viewed videocassette movies that had been rented from respondents' store by a member of the County… Held: No "higher" probable-cause standard was required by the First Amendment for issuance of the warrant in question.