Volume 502 — United States Reports

This is a list of all the United States Supreme Court cases from volume 502 of the United States Reports:

Mireles v. Waco, 502 U.S. 9 (1991), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that a state judge is absolutely immune to liability for acts committed while presiding over their court.

Zatko v. California, 502 U.S. 16 (1991), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a repeat petitioner who regularly files frivolous claims using the Supreme Court's in forma pauperis filing fee exception must pay full price to apply for a writ of certiorari.

After petitioner Hafer, the newly elected Auditor General of Pennsylvania, discharged respondents from their jobs in her office, they sued her for, inter alia, monetary… Held: State officers may be held personally liable for damages under § 1983 based upon actions taken in their official capacities. Pp. 25-31. (a) The above-quoted language from Will does not establish that Hafer may not be held personally liable under § 1983 because she "act[ed]" in her official capacity.

After MCorp, a bank holding company, filed voluntary bankruptcy petitions, it initiated an adversary proceeding in the Bankruptcy Court against the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System… Held: The District Court lacked jurisdiction to enjoin either regulatory proceeding. Pp. 37-45.

Petitioner Griffin and others were charged in a multiple-object conspiracy. The evidence introduced at trial implicated Griffin in the first object of the conspiracy but not the second. Held: Neither the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment nor this Court's precedents require, in a federal prosecution, that a general guilty verdict on a multiple-object conspiracy be set aside if the evidence is inadequate to support conviction as to one of the objects. Pp. 49-60.

Respondent McGuire was found guilty in a California state court of the second-degree murder of his infant daughter, Tori. Held: Neither the admission of the challenged evidence nor the jury instruction as to its use rises to the level of a due process violation. Pp. 67-75.

Petitioner Southwest Marine, Inc., a ship repair facility operator, owns several floating platforms that, among other things, support ship repairmen engaged in their work. Held: A maritime worker whose occupation is one of those enumerated in the LHWCA may be a seaman within the meaning of the Jones Act. Pp. 86-92.

Petitioner Wooddell, a member of Local 71 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), sued respondents, the Local and its officers, alleging, inter alia, that, because of his… Held: Wooddell was entitled to a jury trial on the LMRDA cause of action. Although he seeks injunctive relief as well as damages, the injunctive relief is assertedly incidental to the damages.

Simon & Schuster v. Crime Victims Board, 502 U.S. 105 (1991), was a Supreme Court case dealing with Son of Sam laws, which are state laws that prevent convicted criminals from publishing books about their crime for profit. Simon & Schuster challenged the law's application to profits from Nicholas Pileggi's book Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family, which was written with paid assistance from former mobster Henry Hill. The court struck down the Son of Sam law in New York on the ground that the law was violative of the First Amendment, which protects free speech. Nevertheless, similar laws in other states remain unchallenged. The opinion of the court was written by Sandra Day O'Connor.

After petitioner Ardestani prevailed in an administrative deportation proceeding brought by respondent Immigration and Naturalization Service, an immigration judge awarded her attorney's fees and… Held: Administrative deportation proceedings are not adversary adjudications "under section 554" and thus do not fall within the category of proceedings for which the EAJA has waived sovereign immunity and authorized the award of attorney's fees and costs. Pp. 132-139.

During the 90-day period preceding its filing of a petition under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code, ZZZZ Best Co., Inc. (Debtor) made two interest payments and paid a loan commitment fee on its… Held: Payments on long-term debt, as well as those on short-term debt, may qualify for the ordinary course of business exception to the trustee's power to avoid preferential transfers.

In 1981, the Secretary of State obtained an assurance from the Haitian Government that it would not subject to prosecution for illegal departure undocumented Haitians interdicted by the United States… Held: Disclosure of the unredacted interview reports would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of the returnees' privacy. Pp. 171-182.

Section 242(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) authorizes the Attorney General to arrest excludable aliens and, pending a determination of their deportability, either to hold them in… Held: The regulation on its face is consistent with the Attorney General's statutory authority. Pp. 188-196. (a) No "as-applied" challenges to the regulation nor any constitutional claims raised by respondents' initial complaint are before this Court. P.188.

Respondent South Carolina Public Railways Commission, a state agency that is a common carrier engaged in interstate commerce by railroad, was sued in state court under the Federal Employers'… Held: FELA creates a cause of action against a state-owned railroad, enforceable in state court. Pp. 201-207.

Petitioner King, a National Guard member, advised his civilian employer, respondent St. Vincent's Hospital, that he had accepted a 3-year full-time appointment with the Guard, and requested a leave… Held: Section 2024(d) does not limit the length of military service after which a member of the Armed Forces retains a right to civilian reemployment.

Rule 3 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure conditions federal appellate jurisdiction on the filing of a timely notice of appeal. Held: A document intended to serve as an appellate brief may qualify as the notice of appeal required by Rule 3.

Yakima County, Washington, imposes an ad valorem levy on taxable real property within its jurisdiction and an excise tax on sales of such land. Held: The Indian General Allotment Act of 1887 permits Yakima County to impose an ad valorem tax on reservation land patented in fee pursuant to the Act and owned by reservation Indians or the Yakima Indian Nation itself, but does not allow the County to enforce its excise tax on sales of such land.

Illinois citizens wishing to establish a "new political party" may field candidates for statewide office after collecting the signatures… Held: The controversy is not moot even though the 1990 election is over, both because it is "capable of repetition yet evading review," and because the results of that election will entitle the HWP to enter the next election as an established party in all or part of the county so long as its candidates were entitled to their places on the…

The District Court awarded the guardian ad litem of petitioner Molzof's since-deceased husband damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act… Held: Section 2674—under which "[t]he United States shall be liable [on] tort claims, in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances, but shall not be liable . . . for punitive damages " (emphasis added)—bars the recovery only of what are legally considered "punitive damages" under traditional…

Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Doherty, 502 U.S. 314 (1992), was a United States Supreme Court case which confirmed that the Attorney General of the United States has broad discretion to reopen deportation (now called "removal") proceedings, as well as other adjudications heard before immigration courts.

At petitioner White's trial on charges related to a sexual assault upon S.G., a 4-year-old girl, the trial court ruled that testimony recounting S.G.'s… Held: The Confrontation Clause does not require that, before a trial court admits testimony under the spontaneous declaration and medical examination exceptions to the hearsay rule, either the prosecution must produce the declarant at trial or the trial court must find that the declarant is unavailable. Pp. 352-358.

Years after the District Court held that conditions at the Suffolk County, Massachusetts, jail were constitutionally deficient, petitioner officials and respondent inmates entered into a consent… Held: The Swift "grievous wrong" standard does not apply to requests to modify consent decrees stemming from institutional reform litigation.

Petitioner Dewsnup, the debtor in a case under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code, filed an adversary proceeding, contending that the… Held: Section 506(d) does not allow Dewsnup to "strip down" respondents' lien to the judicially determined value of the collateral, because respondents' claim is secured by a lien and has been fully allowed pursuant to § 502 and, therefore, cannot be classified as "not an allowed secured claim" for purposes of the lien-voiding provision of…

Wyoming, a major coal-producing State, does not sell coal, but does impose a severance tax on those who extract it. Held: Wyoming has standing. The prior rulings on standing in this case "should be subject to the general principles of finality and repose, absent changed circumstances or unforeseen issues not previously litigated." Arizona v. California, 460 U.S. 605, 619, 103 S.Ct. 1382, 1391, 75 L.Ed.2d 318.

Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478 (1992), is a case in which the United States Supreme Court ruled that a Guatemalan man seeking asylum in the United States of America as a result of forced conscription in a guerrilla army did not establish persecution on account of political opinion, a legal requirement for asylum.

Presley v. Etowah County Commission, 502 U.S. 491 (1992), was a United States Supreme Court voting rights case where the Court held by a 6—3 majority that the abolition of road districts did not violate the Fifteenth Amendment or the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Lechmere, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, 502 U.S. 527 (1992), is a US labor law case of the Supreme Court of the United States on union rights and private property rights. It forbids nonemployee union organizers from soliciting support on private property unless no reasonable alternatives exist.