United States Reports

Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 143 U.S. 457 (1892), was a U.S. Supreme Court case involving Trinity Church in New York and its employment contract with an English Anglican priest. The court held that the Alien Contract Labor Law of 1885 did not apply to the hiring of Christian ministers.

Field v. Clark, 143 U.S. 649 (1891), is an early United States Supreme Court administrative law case declining to apply the nondelegation doctrine to the McKinley Tariff. This case also clarified that the version of a law signed by the President would be treated as authoritative, regardless of discrepancies from congressional records.

Counselman v. Hitchcock, 142 U.S. 547 (1892), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that not incriminating an individual for testimony was not the same as not requiring them to testify at all. The court reasoned that as long as evidence arising from the compelled testimony could incriminate the individual in any way, the Fifth Amendment guarantee against self-incrimination was not satisfied. The court then adopted the broader "transactional immunity" rule.

Nishimura Ekiu v. United States, 142 U.S. 651 (1892), is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that upheld the constitutionality of a provision in the Immigration Act of 1891, a follow-up to the Immigration Act of 1882. The Immigration Act of 1891 further federalized immigration and nationality law, expanded immigration inspection, and established the Office of Superintendent of Immigration. The case arose concerning Nishimura Ekiu, a Japanese woman who came to the United States at the port of San Francisco, where she was then denied admission as a public charge.

McAllister v. United States, 141 U.S. 174 (1891), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that Congress may provide for the at-will removal of territorial offices, even if such officers exercise judicial functions. The office in this case, a federal judgeship in Alaska Territory, presided over an Article IV tribunal called a territorial court.

Union Pacific Railway Company v. Botsford, 141 U.S. 250 (1891), was a case before the United States Supreme Court.

Marshall v. Holmes, 141 U.S. 589, is an 1891 decision of the United States Supreme Court on equitable relief, res judicata and fraud on the court in diversity jurisdiction. Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote for a unanimous Court that held it unconscionable to allow a state court's decision to stand that had been based on documents later exposed as forgeries. It permitted a federal case seeking to set that verdict aside to go forward. The petitioner had previously had several judgements rendered against her in Louisiana state court. After discovering that a letter attributed to her, used as evidence against her at trial, had been forged, she filed a petition for a bill of review in the Southern District of New York seeking to enjoin the respondent from endorsing the verdict.

Ball v. United States, 140 U.S. 118 (1891), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that an indictment for murder is fatally defective if it fails to state the place of death or, if filed more than a year after the death, the time of death.

In re Jugiro, 140 U.S. 291 (1891), also called Jugiro v. Brush, was decision of the United States Supreme Court holding that habeas corpus did not reach errors committed by a state court of competent jurisdiction.

Higgins v. Keuffel, 140 U.S. 428 (1891), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held a label describing the contents of a container is not subject to copyright. The case has been read narrowly since it was decided. It applies to labels with "no artistic excellence."

In re Ross, or Ross v. McIntyre, 140 U.S. 453 (1891), was a US Supreme Court case decided on May 21, 1891, that dealt with the application of American law by US consular courts over foreign sailors on American-flagged ships in countries in which the United States exercised extraterritorial jurisdiction.

Jones v. United States 137 U.S. 202 (1890) is a United States Supreme Court case in which the court upheld the constitutionality of the Guano Islands Act, which states that any island that fell under the act was under the jurisdiction of any existing statutes or laws pertaining to high seas. The case originated from claims that the United States government could not prosecute Henry Jones for committing murder on Navassa Island during a riot.

The Late Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints v. United States, 136 U.S. 1 (1890), was a Supreme Court case that upheld the Edmunds–Tucker Act on May 19, 1890. Among other things, the act disincorporated the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The LDS Church was represented by its chief counsel Franklin S. Richards and former congressman James Broadhead.

In re Neagle, 135 U.S. 1 (1890), is a United States Supreme Court decision holding that federal officers are immune from State prosecution when acting within the scope of their federal authority.

Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1 (1890), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court determining that the Eleventh Amendment prohibits a citizen of a U.S. state from suing that state in a federal court. Citizens cannot bring suits against their own state for cases related to the federal constitution and federal laws. The court left open the question of whether a citizen may sue his or her state in state courts. That ambiguity was resolved in Alden v. Maine (1999), in which the Court held that a state's sovereign immunity forecloses suits against a state government in state court.

Crenshaw v. United States, 134 U.S. 99 (1890), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court concerning the removal power under the Appointments Clause.

Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company v. Minnesota, 134 U.S. 418 (1890), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that procedural due process limits state regulatory power over railroad rates. A regulatory agency in Minnesota had set railroad rates that the Minnesota Supreme Court had refused to overturn. When the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad appealed the case, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the rates were set without due process of law, specifically without an opportunity to challenge the equality and reasonableness of the charges. The Minnesota court had sanctioned rate-setting without any judicial hearing, requirement of notice or witnesses, "-in fact, nothing which has the semblance of due process of law".

Davis v. Beason, 133 U.S. 333 (1890), was a United States Supreme Court case affirming, by a 9–0 vote, that federal laws against polygamy did not conflict with the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Louisville, New Orleans & Texas Railway Co. v. Mississippi, 133 U.S. 587 (1890), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a Mississippi law that required railroads to racially segregate their passengers. The Court in Hall v. Decuir (1878) had struck down a similar Louisiana law on the grounds that it unreasonably interfered with Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce. A railroad challenged the Mississippi law on the same ground, arguing that it violated the Dormant Commerce Clause by burdening interstate commerce. The Supreme Court, dividing 7 to 2, disagreed. Writing for the majority, Justice David Josiah Brewer distinguished Hall on the basis that Mississippi's law, unlike Louisiana's, applied solely to intrastate commerce.

Smith v. Bolles, 132 U.S. 125 (1889), was an action to recover out-of-pocket damages for alleged fraudulent representations in the sale of shares of mining stock. The plaintiff was denied benefit of the bargain damages. The case is important in contract law, specifically legal remedies and compensating expectancies.

Thompson v. Hubbard, 131 U.S. 123 (1889), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a later owner of a copyright is entitled to sue a previous owner for copyright infringement. However, the later owner's failure to observe formalities voids copyright and a nonexistent copyright cannot be infringed.

Botiller v. Dominguez, 130 U.S. 238 (1889), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court dealing with the validity of Spanish or Mexican land grants in the Mexican Cession, the region of the present day southwestern United States that was ceded to the U.S. by Mexico in 1848 under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The action was in the nature of ejectment, brought in the Superior Court of the Los Angeles County by Dominga Dominguez against Brigido Botiller and others, to recover possession of a tract of land situated in said county, known as Rancho Las Virgenes.

Chae Chan Ping v. United States, 130 U.S. 581 (1889), or The Chinese Exclusion Case, is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that upheld the constitutionality of the Scott Act of 1888, a follow-up to the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Scott Act barred Chinese laborers from reentry to the United States. The case arose concerning Chae Chan Ping, a Chinese man who moved to the United States in 1875, lived in San Francisco for over a decade, and whose return voyage from a trip to British Hong Kong was pending when the Scott Act became effective. Ping's legal challenge to the prohibition on reentry was aided by Chinese immigrant groups and advocated on his behalf by an elite "dream team" of lawyers.

Dent v. West Virginia, 129 U.S. 114 (1889), was an important United States Supreme Court case involving the reputable practice of physicians and state laws in the late 19th century. It was a direct challenge to West Virginia having passed "the nation's first genuinely restrictive physician licensing law in the early 1880s."

Kidd v. Pearson, 128 U.S. 1 (1888), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that a distinction between manufacturing and commerce meant that an Iowa law that prohibited the manufacture of alcohol (in this case for sale out-of-state) was constitutional as it did not conflict with the power of the US Congress to regulate interstate commerce.

Banks v. Manchester, 128 U.S. 244 (1888), was a United States Supreme Court ruling that dealt with copyright.

Callaghan v. Myers, 128 U.S. 617 (1888), was a United States Supreme Court ruling dealing with copyright.

The Telephone Cases, 126 U.S. 1 (1888), were a series of U.S. court cases in the 1870s and the 1880s related to the invention of the telephone, which culminated in an 1888 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld the priority of the patents belonging to Alexander Graham Bell. Those patents were used by the American Bell Telephone Company and the Bell System, although they had also acquired critical microphone patents from Emile Berliner. The objector (or plaintiff) in the Supreme Court case was initially the Western Union telegraph company, which was then a far-larger and better financed competitor than American Bell Telephone.

Maynard v. Hill, 125 U.S. 190 (1888), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that marriage is a status entered into by contract, and the parties have no power to alter the status of "marriage" under law with that contract. Thus, a legislative divorce is valid, and courts have no jurisdiction to review them.

Whitney v. Robertson, 124 U.S. 190 (1888), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that a treaty and a federal statute are equivalent; if two are in conflict, the one last in time will control, provided the stipulation of the treaty on the subject is self-executing.

United States v. Mouat, 124 U.S. 303 (1888), was a case before the United States Supreme Court in which the court held that only those persons appointed by the President, the courts of law, or the head of a department are Officers of the United States. All other persons are mere employees.

Thornton v. Schreiber, 124 U.S. 612 (1888), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held a copyright holder may not personally sue an employee of a business for copyright infringement if the employee was holding the infringing material on the order of their employer.

Mugler v. Kansas, 123 U.S. 623 (1887), was an important United States Supreme Court case in which the 7–1 opinion written by John Marshall Harlan with a lone partial dissent by Stephen Johnson Field. The decision laid the foundation for the Supreme Court's later acceptance and defense during the Lochner era of Justice Field's theory of economic substantive due process under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Runkle v. United States, 122 U.S. 543 (1887), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States determined that the president cannot delegate the power vested in him to approve the proceedings and sentence of a court-martial because the president is the only person bestowed with the judicial power of making a final determination.

Ex parte Bain, 121 U.S. 1 (1887), was a United States Supreme Court case involving grand jury indictments.

United States v. Arjona, 120 U.S. 479 (1887), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that it is not necessary for Congress to announce that a statute is intended to enforce international criminal law before that statute may be enforced under the Offenses Clause.

Ker v. Illinois, 119 U.S. 436 (1886), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously held that a fugitive kidnapped from abroad and taken back to the U.S. to be tried for a crime may be tried, regardless of the legality of the kidnapping.

Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356 (1886), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that a prima facie race-neutral law administered in a prejudicial manner infringed upon the right to equal protection guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

United States v. Kagama, 118 U.S. 375 (1886), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of the Major Crimes Act of 1885. This Congressional act gave the federal courts jurisdiction in certain Indian-on-Indian crimes, even if they were committed on an Indian reservation. Kagama, a Yurok Native American (Indian) accused of murder, was selected as a test case by the Department of Justice to test the constitutionality of the Act. The importance of the ruling in this particular case was that it tested the constitutionality of the Act and confirmed Congress's authority over Indian affairs. Plenary power over Indian tribes, supposedly granted to the U.S.

Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, 118 U.S. 394 (1886), is a corporate law case of the United States Supreme Court concerning taxation of railroad properties. The case is most notable for a headnote stating that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment grants constitutional protections to corporations.

Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Company v. Illinois, 118 U.S. 557 (1886), also known as the Wabash Case, was a Supreme Court decision that severely limited the rights of states to control or impede interstate commerce. It led to the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Presser v. Illinois, 116 U.S. 252 (1886), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that held, "Unless restrained by their own constitutions, state legislatures may enact statutes to control and regulate all organizations, drilling, and parading of military bodies and associations except those which are authorized by the militia laws of the United States." It states that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution limited only the power of Congress and the national government to control firearms, not that of the states, and that the right to peaceably assemble in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution was not protected by the clause referred to except to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The Railroad Commission Cases, 116 U.S. 307 (1886), is a United States Supreme Court case concerning the power of states to set transportation charges of railroad companies. The Court held that the fixing of freight and passenger rates in railroad transportation was a permissible exercise of state police power.

United States v. Perkins, 116 U.S. 483 (1886), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court concerning the removal power under the Appointments Clause.

Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616 (1886) was a decision by the United States Supreme Court in which the Court held that "a search and seizure [was] equivalent [to] a compulsory production of a man's private papers" and that the search was "an 'unreasonable search and seizure' within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment."

Cannon v. United States, 116 U.S. 55 (1885), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held compacts for sexual non-intercourse, easily made and easily broken, when the prior marriage relations continue to exist, with the occupation of the same house and table and the keeping up of the same family unity, is not a lawful substitute for the monogamous family which alone the statute tolerates.

Cole v. City of La Grange, 113 U.S. 1 (1885), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that the general grant of legislative power in a state constitution only enables the legislature to use eminent domain or taxation to take private property, without the owner's consent, for a public purpose.

Head v. Amoskeag Mfg. Co., 113 U.S. 9 (1885), was a U.S. Supreme Court case considering whether a dam constructed on privately owned land served a public purpose and whether having the owner of the dam compensate any adjacent landowner was a legal form of eminent domain.

Barbier v. Connolly, 113 U.S. 27 (1885), was a United States Supreme Court in which the Court considered the application of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution to a San Francisco ordinance regulating the establishment of public laundries. The Court held that the regulation of laundries for public health and public safety reasons were clearly within the police powers of the state, and the Fourteenth Amendment was not meant to interfere with the police powers of the state.

Liverpool, New York & Philadelphia S. S. Co. v. Commissioners of Emigration, 113 U.S. 33 (1885), was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court. The Court held that courts should not prematurely determine whether a statute applies or does not apply to a given case based solely on pleadings and the text of the statute without considering the evidence. The Court further held that in cases where it is unclear whether an act applies, courts should not preemptively rule on the act's constitutionality, marking an early statement of the ripeness doctrine.