Supreme Court of the United States, 1943

The Court, through Chief Justice Stone, upheld Hirabayashi’s conviction for violating the wartime curfew imposed on persons of Japanese ancestry. It held that Congress had ratified the executive program, that the curfew as applied at that time was within the national war power and did not violate the Fifth Amendment…

Justice Jackson's opinion held that the First Amendment, applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, prohibits public officials from compelling schoolchildren to salute the flag and recite the pledge of allegiance. The constitutional protection does not depend on the objector's religious beliefs.

The Court held that the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act did not require an automatic continuance merely because Boone was serving in the military. The trial court properly exercised discretion to deny a stay because the record supported its conclusion that Boone’s military service had not materially impaired…

The Court, through Justice Reed, held that a contractor's cook serving an interstate railroad's maintenance-of-way employees was not engaged in commerce under the Fair Labor Standards Act and affirmed the judgment denying coverage.

The Court held that the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act did not require an automatic stay merely because Boone was serving in the military. The trial court permissibly denied a continuance because the record supported its conclusion that Boone's military service did not materially impair his ability to defend…

The Court held that a cook employed by an independent contractor to prepare and serve meals to a traveling railroad maintenance gang was not engaged in commerce under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Assuming federal jurisdiction existed, the Court held that the District Court properly declined to exercise equitable jurisdiction over a challenge to a Texas Railroad Commission drilling permit.

Speaking through Justice Douglas, the Supreme Court held that a Jeannette, Pennsylvania ordinance requiring Jehovah's Witnesses to pay a flat license tax before going door to door to distribute and 'sell' religious books and pamphlets violated the freedoms of speech, press, and religion guaranteed by the First…

Chief Justice Stone's opinion held that the Court could issue an extraordinary writ to a district court in aid of its ultimate appellate jurisdiction and that the foreign-relations interests involved justified immediate intervention without an application to the circuit court of appeals.

The Court held that it had jurisdiction to issue a writ of prohibition or mandamus in aid of its appellate jurisdiction and that the case presented an exceptional matter warranting immediate Supreme Court intervention.

The Court affirmed the judgment for the plaintiff arising from a railroad crossing accident. Justice Douglas's opinion held that the engineer's accident statement was not admissible as a business record because its primary utility was litigation rather than railroad operations.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Jackson, held that felony tax evasion under § 145(b) requires some willful affirmative conduct beyond the willful failures to file a return and pay tax that constitute misdemeanors under § 145(a).

The Court affirmed that a witness who appears before a grand jury in response to a subpoena and testifies under oath is entitled to immunity from prosecution under the Sherman Act, even if he does not claim the Fifth Amendment privilege against self‑incrimination.

The Court held that the Secretary of Labor’s subpoena under the Walsh‑Healey Act was valid and that the district court could not condition enforcement on a prior determination of the Act’s coverage. The subpoena power was deemed within congressional authority, so constitutional issues were unnecessary.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Jackson, affirmed the judgment requiring enforcement of the Secretary of Labor's subpoena. Determining whether employees in the contractor's separate component-manufacturing plants were covered by the Walsh-Healey Act and government contracts was primarily the Secretary's…

Justice Roberts delivered the Court's opinion affirming the judgment sustaining the defendants' immunity pleas. The Court held that a natural person who appears pursuant to a subpoena and gives sworn testimony substantially connected with an alleged Sherman Act offense receives statutory immunity from prosecution for…

Chief Justice Stone delivered the Court's opinion reversing the injunction against California's 1940 raisin marketing program. The Sherman Act did not prohibit restraints imposed by the state as sovereign through its legislatively authorized program, as distinguished from private restraints merely authorized by state…

The Court held that condemnation compensation excludes project-generated increases in value when the property was probably within the project's scope from the time the Government became committed to it.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Frankfurter, held that the Circuit Court of Appeals properly entertained habeas corpus as an auxiliary remedy in exceptional circumstances affecting a pending appeal, but erred in requiring legal advice as an absolute prerequisite to a lay defendant's waiver of jury trial.