Volume 508 — United States Reports

This is a list of all the United States Supreme Court cases from volume 508 of the United States Reports:

* The so-called Section 8 housing program under the United States Housing Act of 1937 (Housing Act) authorizes private landlords who rent to low-income… Held: This Court need not consider whether § 801 of the Reform Act unconstitutionally abrogated a contract right to unobstructed formula-based rent adjustments, since respondents have no such right. The assistance contracts do not prohibit the use of comparability studies to impose an independent cap on such adjustments.

* Under subsection 7( o )(2)(A) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA or Act), a state or local government agency may provide its employees compensatory time off, or "comp time," instead of the… Held: Because petitioners are "employees not covered by subclause (i)," subclause (ii) authorized the individual comp time agreements challenged in this litigation.

Stinson v. United States, 508 U.S. 36 (1993), is a decision of the United States Supreme Court that held Sentencing Commission guidelines may be cited as binding authority when courts issue sentences for criminal defendants.

* Although those who petition government for redress are generally immune from antitrust liability, Eastern R. Presidents Conference v.… Held: Litigation cannot be deprived of immunity as a sham unless it is objectively baseless. This Court's decisions establish that the legality of objectively reasonable petitioning "directed toward obtaining governmental action" is "not at all affected by any anticompetitive purpose [the actor] may have had." Id., at 140, 81 S.Ct., at 531.

* Since its 1987 decisions in Vieau v. Japax, Inc., 823 F.2d 1510, and Fonar Corp. v. Johnson & Johnson, 821 F.2d 627, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which has exclusive jurisdiction… Held: The Federal Circuit's affirmance of a finding that a patent has not been infringed is not per se a sufficient reason for vacating a declaratory judgment holding the patent invalid. Pp. ____.

Held: petitioner’s complaint was filed too early. The statutory text does' not speak with equal clarity to the argument that petitioner’s subsequent receipt of a formal denial from the agency might be treated as the event that “instituted” his action.

Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Sac & Fox Nation, 508 U.S. 114 (1993), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that absent explicit congressional direction to the contrary, it must be presumed that a State does not have jurisdiction to tax tribal members who live and work in Indian country, whether the particular territory consists of a formal or informal reservation, allotted lands, or dependent Indian communities.

* On the basis of his use of a gun in committing six bank robberies on different dates, petitioner Deal was convicted, in a single proceeding, of six… Held: Deal's second through sixth convictions in a single proceeding arose "[i]n the case of his second or subsequent conviction" within the meaning of § 924(c)(1). There is no merit to his contention that the language of § 924(c)(1) is facially ambiguous and should therefore be construed in his favor under the rule of lenity.

* Respondent company, which maintained several tax-qualified defined benefit pension plans for its employees during the time at issue, contributed a number of unencumbered properties to the trust… Held: When applied to an employer's funding obligation, the contribution of unencumbered property to a defined benefit plan is a prohibited "sale or exchange" under § 4975(c)(1)(A). Pp. ____.

Department of Justice v. Landano, 508 U.S. 165 (1993), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the government is not entitled to a presumption that a source is confidential within the meaning of Exemption 7(D) of the Freedom of Information Act whenever the source provides information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the course of a criminal investigation.

* The Indian Health Service receives yearly lump-sum appropriations from Congress, and expends the funds under authority of the Snyder Act and the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to provide health… Held: The Service's decision to discontinue the Program was "committed to agency discretion by law" and therefore not subject to judicial review under § 701(a)(2). Pp. ____.

* Petitioner Keene Corporation has been sued by thousands of plaintiffs alleging injury from exposure to asbestos fibers and dust released from Keene products. Held: Section 1500 precludes Court of Federal Claims jurisdiction over Keene's actions. Pp. ____.

Smith v. United States, 508 U.S. 223 (1993), is a United States Supreme Court case that held that the exchange of a gun for drugs constituted "use" of the firearm for purposes of a federal statute imposing penalties for "use" of a firearm "during and in relation to" a drug trafficking crime.

Mertens v. Hewitt Associates, 508 U.S. 248 (1993), is the second in the trilogy of United States Supreme Court ERISA preemption cases that effectively denies any remedy for employees who are harmed by medical malpractice or other bad acts of their health plan if they receive their health care from their employer.

Held: consistent with its opinion on remand from our decision in Cage, State v. Cage, 583 So. 2d 1125 , cert. denied, 502 U. S. 874 (1991), that the erroneous instruction was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. 596 So. 2d, at 186 . It therefore upheld the conviction, though remanding for a new sentencing hearing because of ineffectiveness of counsel in the sentencing phase. We granted certiorari, 506 U. S. 939 (1992).

* Respondents insured most of the named defendants in a suit that, inter alia, was based on an implied private right of action under § 10(b) of the Securities Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 of the… Held: Defendants in a 10b-5 action have a right to seek contribution as a matter of federal law. Pp. ____. (a) Federal courts have authority to imply a right to contribution in a 10b-5 action.

* The Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 (Act) provides that cable television systems be franchised by local governmental authorities, but exempts, inter alia, facilities serving "only… Held: Section 602(7)(B)'s common-ownership distinction is constitutional. Pp. ____.

Nobelman v. American Savings Bank, 508 U.S. 324 (1993), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court disallowed cram-downs (the involuntary imposition by a court of a reorganization plan over the objections of creditors in a bankruptcy proceeding) for primary residences. Michael J. Schroeder argued on behalf of the mortgage creditor, American Savings Bank.

Held: “violates the constitutional guarantee of due process.” Id., at 1137 . In reaching this conclusion, the Court of Appeals placed principal reliance on Cupp v. Naughten, 414 U.S. 141 (1973).

Minnesota v. Dickerson, 508 U.S. 366 (1993), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. The Court unanimously held that, when a police officer who is conducting a lawful patdown search for weapons feels something that plainly is contraband, the object may be seized even though it is not a weapon. By a 6-to-3 vote, however, the court held that the officer in this case had gone beyond the limits of a lawful patdown search before he could determine that the object was contraband, making the search and the subsequent seizure unlawful under the Fourth Amendment. Associate Justice Byron White gave the opinion of the court.

Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches Union Free School District, 508 U.S. 384 (1993), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States concerning whether the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment was offended by a school district that refused to allow a church access to school premises to show films dealing with family and child-rearing issues faced by parents. In a unanimous decision, the court concluded that it was.

* Title 42 U.S.C. § 1395f(b)(1) requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to reimburse the lesser of the "customary charges" or the "reasonable cost[s]" of providers of health care services… Held: Clause (ii) does not require the Secretary to afford petitioners an opportunity to establish that they are entitled to reimbursement for costs in excess of the limits stated in the regulations. Pp. ____.

Antoine v. Byers & Anderson, Inc., 508 U.S. 429 (1993), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a court reporter is not absolutely immune from damages liability for failing to produce a transcript of a federal criminal trial.

* The Act of Sept. 7, 1916, 39 Stat. 753 (1916 Act), among other things, authorized any national bank doing business in a community with a population not exceeding 5,000 to act as the agent for any… Held: The Court of Appeals had discretion to consider the validity of section 92, and under the circumstances did not abuse it. There is no doubt that the court had before it an Article III case or controversy involving section 92's status.

* At the time they initiated separate Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceedings, petitioners, two pairs of debtors, and another married couple were in arrears on long-term promissory notes held by respondent… Held: Wade is entitled to preconfirmation and postconfirmation interest on the arrearages that were paid off under petitioners' plans. Pp. ____. (a) Three interrelated Bankruptcy Code provisions determine whether Wade is entitled to interest.

Wisconsin v. Mitchell, 508 U.S. 476 (1993), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court held that enhanced penalties for hate crimes do not violate criminal defendants' First Amendment rights. It was a landmark precedent pertaining to First Amendment free speech arguments for hate crime legislation. In effect, the Court ruled that a state may consider whether a crime was committed or initially considered due to an intended victim's status in a protected class.

* In proceedings under Ohio law to liquidate an insolvent insurance company, the United States asserted that its claims as obligee on various of the company's surety bonds were… Held: The Ohio priority statute escapes federal pre-emption to the extent that it protects policyholders, but it is not a law enacted for the purpose of regulating the business of insurance to the extent that it is designed to further the interests of creditors other than policyholders. Pp. ____.

Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that an ordinance passed in Hialeah, Florida, forbidding the unnecessary killing of "an animal in a public or private ritual or ceremony not for the primary purpose of food consumption", was unconstitutional.

Held: the transaction fell within § 302(c)(5)'s exception, so that receipt of the payment was not a criminal violation of § 302(b). Id., at 423— 424. At the same time, however, § 302(e) was available to provide a civil remedy for the violation of § 302(c)(5) that occurred when the funds subsequently were diverted.

* The Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980 (MPPAA) amended the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to provide that in certain circumstances an employer withdrawing… Held: The MPPAA does not unconstitutionally deny Concrete Pipe an impartial adjudicator by placing the determination of withdrawal liability in the plan sponsor, here the trustees, subject to § 1401's presumptions. Pp. ____.

* Respondent city enacted an ordinance requiring that 10% of the amount spent on city contracts be set aside each fiscal year for so-called "Minority Business Enterprises" (MBE's). Held: The case is not moot. It is well settled that the voluntary cessation of a challenged practice does not deprive a federal court of its power to determine the practice's legality, because a defendant is not precluded from reinstating the practice.

South Dakota v. Bourland, 508 U.S. 679 (1993), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that Congress specifically abrogated treaty rights with the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe as to hunting and fishing rights on reservation lands that were acquired for a reservoir.