United States Supreme Court - February 2019 Opinion Summaries

Jam v. International Finance Corp.

International Law, Civil Procedure
Held that an international organization did not have as much immunity from lawsuits as it contended it did. The U.S.-headquartered organization was...

Madison v. Alabama

Sentencing, Criminal Law & Procedure
Held that the Eighth Amendment may permit executing a prisoner even if he cannot remember committing his crime, but it may forbid execution if his...

Garza v. Idaho

Criminal Law & Procedure
Held that a defendant who had, in the course of pleading guilty, signed what is often called an appeal waiver was entitled to the presumption of...

Nutraceutical Corp. v. Lambert

Class Actions, Civil Procedure
Held that the federal rule governing appeals from orders granting or denying class certification is not subject to equitable tolling. The plaintiff...

Yovino v. Rizo

Judges & Judiciary, Labor & Employment Law
Held that the Ninth Circuit should not have counted the vote of a circuit judge who died before the decision was issued, because deceased federal...

Timbs v. Indiana

Sentencing, Asset Forfeiture, Constitutional Law
Held that the Fourteenth Amendment makes the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on excessive fines fully applicable to the States. In this case involving...

Dawson v. Steager

Tax Law
Held that West Virginia unlawfully discriminated against a U.S. Marshalls Service retiree when it gave a generous pension tax benefit only to state or...

Moore v. Texas

Sentencing, Criminal Law & Procedure
Held that a man convicted of murder had shown that he had an intellectual disability and thus was ineligible for the death penalty. In reaching a...