Supreme Court of the United States, 1952

The Supreme Court affirmed the lower court’s award of $5,000 statutory damages despite the defendant’s proven profits, holding that the trial court’s discretion to impose statutory damages within the statutory limits is not barred by an admission of profit.

Justice Jackson's opinion for the Court held that proof of an infringer's profits does not preclude an award of statutory copyright damages when the copyright owner's actual damages cannot adequately be established.

The Court, through Justice Clark, held that the Lanham Act reached an American citizen's allegedly infringing watch business in Mexico where components were purchased in the United States, counterfeit watches entered this country, and the activities could harm the American trademark owner's reputation.

The Supreme Court held that Oklahoma's loyalty oath for state officers and employees, which as construed by the state courts disqualified persons for past membership in organizations designated subversive by the U.S.

The Court held that the National Labor Relations Board could prove a back-pay claim in bankruptcy because the statutory obligation was an implied-contract debt, and that the Board was the proper entity to liquidate the claim.

Justice Frankfurter dissents, arguing that Oregon's statute shifting the burden of proving insanity to the defendant violates the Fourteenth Amendment due process because it requires the accused to prove a lack of culpability beyond a reasonable doubt, contrary to the principle that the State must prove every element…

The Court affirmed the Fifth Circuit, holding that the National Labor Relations Board’s per‑se prohibition on bargaining for a management‑functions clause was improper; the employer’s bargaining for such a clause does not automatically constitute an unfair labor practice and must be judged under the good‑faith…

The Court affirmed the Fifth Circuit, holding that the National Labor Relations Board may not prohibit an employer from bargaining for a management functions clause and that the employer was not guilty of an unfair labor practice for doing so; the Board’s order barring such bargaining was therefore unenforceable.

The Court affirmed Beauharnais’s conviction under Illinois’s group-libel statute, holding that the State could punish publicly disseminated libel directed at a defined racial or religious group and that the statute, as construed under established libel law, was not unconstitutionally vague or overbroad.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Douglas, upheld New York City's released-time program permitting students, upon parental request, to leave public schools for privately funded religious instruction off school grounds.

The Court affirmed the murder conviction, holding that the confession introduced at trial was not shown to be coerced, the publicity did not establish community prejudice denying a fair trial, and petitioner received competent counsel regarding waiver of a jury trial on insanity.

The Court affirmed the conviction, holding that the confession introduced at trial was not shown to be the product of coercion, that prejudicial publicity did not establish a denial of a fundamentally fair trial, and that petitioner received effective assistance concerning his waiver of a jury trial on insanity.

Justice Burton's opinion for the Court held that money obtained by extortion constitutes taxable income under § 22(a) when the recipient has practical control over it and can derive readily realizable economic value from it. The Court limited Commissioner v.

The Court held that money obtained through extortion is taxable gross income when the recipient exercises sufficient control over it to derive readily realizable economic value, even if the recipient's title could later be challenged.

The Court affirmed the criminal-contempt convictions and sentences of defense lawyers whose prolonged, disruptive courtroom conduct occurred in the trial judge's presence. It held that Rule 42(a) permits a judge to defer summary contempt proceedings until the trial ends when immediate punishment would be imprudent or…

The Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s dismissal, holding that the United States Civil Service Commission is not a corporate entity that may be sued eo nomine and that its members were not properly served, depriving the court of jurisdiction.

Justice Burton's opinion held that due process permitted, but did not require, Ohio to exercise personal jurisdiction over the Philippine mining company on claims unrelated to its Ohio activities.

Justice Jackson’s opinion held that 18 U.S.C. § 641 retains a criminal-intent requirement despite statutory silence, and that knowing conversion requires knowledge of the facts making the taking wrongful. Morissette’s asserted belief that the spent bomb casings were abandoned therefore bore directly on guilt.