Supreme Court of the United States, 1975

The Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit and held that the Fourth Amendment does not forbid a warrantless felony arrest in a public place by a statutorily authorized officer acting on probable cause, even where he had time to obtain a warrant and no exigent circumstances existed; Congress's long-standing…

The Court held that the respondent no longer had a present interest in the parole procedures and therefore the case was moot; the Court of Appeals judgment was vacated and the case was remanded to the District Court for dismissal. No separate opinions were filed.

The Supreme Court held that Miranda v. Arizona does not impose a per se prohibition on custodial interrogation after a suspect indicates a desire to remain silent; the admissibility of statements obtained after such an invocation depends on whether the suspect's 'right to cut off questioning' was 'scrupulously…

The Supreme Court held that a warrantless search of a vehicle at the police station is constitutional when probable cause existed at the time of arrest, affirming the admissibility of the checks seized and reversing the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The Court relied on Chambers v.

The Supreme Court, in a per curiam opinion, reversed the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals' 3-2 reversal of White's conviction for knowingly attempting to pass a forged instrument, holding that under Chambers v.

The Court vacated the Fifth Circuit’s judgment because a federal court exercising diversity jurisdiction must apply the forum state’s conflict-of-laws rules. The Fifth Circuit was required to identify and follow Texas conflicts law rather than create federal exceptions to those rules, while leaving the ultimate choice…

The Court, in a per curiam opinion, held that the federal district court must apply the conflict‑of‑law rules of the state in which it sits—in this case Texas—under Klaxon, vacating the Fifth Circuit's judgment and remanding for further proceedings.

The Court held that Border Patrol agents conducting roving patrols near the Mexican border may stop a vehicle briefly to question its occupants only when specific, articulable facts and rational inferences reasonably support suspicion that the vehicle contains aliens illegally in the country.

The Court held that the Sixth Amendment, applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, gives a criminal defendant who voluntarily and intelligently chooses to do so the right to conduct his own defense.

The Supreme Court reversed a three-judge District Court judgment that had invalidated the Social Security Act's nine-month duration-of-relationship requirements for surviving wives and stepchildren as unconstitutional irrebuttable presumptions and had awarded class-wide retroactive benefits.

The Supreme Court held that a State cannot constitutionally confine without more a nondangerous individual who is capable of surviving safely in freedom alone or with the help of willing family or friends, and that a finding of mental illness alone cannot justify keeping a person indefinitely in simple custodial…

The Supreme Court held that a district court's discretion to award or deny backpay under Title VII Sec. 706(g) must be guided by the Act's twin purposes of eradicating discrimination and making victims whole, so the mere absence of bad faith cannot justify denying backpay, although denial may rest on a showing that…

The Court affirmed dismissal of a challenge to Penfield's allegedly exclusionary zoning practices because none of the individual, taxpayer, or association plaintiffs adequately established standing.

The Supreme Court held that a federal trial court acted well within its discretion in conditioning a defense investigator's impeachment testimony on the prosecution receiving the portions of his report recording the witnesses' allegedly inconsistent statements, enforcing the condition by precluding the testimony when…

The Supreme Court reversed the Florida District Court of Appeal's affirmance of Jacksonville, Fla. Code § 330.313, which made it a public nuisance for any drive-in theater to exhibit a film showing nudity if visible from a public street or place.

The Supreme Court reversed a Third Circuit decision recognizing a private cause of action under 18 U.S.C. § 610, a criminal statute barring corporate campaign expenditures in federal elections.

The Supreme Court held that a private damages action under Rule 10b-5 is limited to actual purchasers and sellers of securities, reaffirming the Birnbaum purchaser-seller rule as a sound construction supported by the statutory text, Congress's purchaser-seller limits on the express civil remedies, two decades of…

The Court held that the subcontracting agreement between Local 100 and Connell Construction is not immune from federal antitrust laws and therefore may be subject to a Sherman Act claim, while affirming that Texas state antitrust law is pre‑empted by federal labor policy.

The Court held that the Speech or Debate Clause barred this suit against the Senate Subcommittee members and their counsel because issuing the bank-records subpoena was within the legitimate legislative sphere; it therefore reversed the judgment on the Senate claims and directed dismissal.

The Court held that Pennsylvania's free textbook loan program for nonpublic-school students did not violate the Establishment Clause because it was part of a general program benefiting all schoolchildren and provided secular books to students.

The Supreme Court held that the timely filing of a Title VII charge with the EEOC does not toll the one-year Tennessee statute of limitations applicable to a parallel 42 U.S.C. § 1981 action based on the same facts, because a federal court borrowing a state limitations period takes the State's tolling rules with it…

The Court upheld Pennsylvania’s program lending secular textbooks directly to students in nonpublic schools, but held unconstitutional the provisions providing instructional materials and equipment directly to nonpublic schools and auxiliary educational services on nonpublic-school premises.

The Court reversed an award of attorneys' fees against Alyeska because federal courts may not create a broad private-attorney-general exception to the American Rule without legislative authorization.

The Supreme Court held that NLRB General Counsel Advice and Appeals Memoranda explaining decisions not to file unfair labor practice complaints are 'final opinions' made in the adjudication of cases under FOIA 5 U.S.C.

The Supreme Court reversed a three-judge District Court's preliminary injunction barring the Wisconsin Medical Examining Board from temporarily suspending Dr. Duane Larkin's license at a contested hearing on charges arising from the Board's own investigation.

The Court held that Utah's statute setting the age of majority at 18 for females and 21 for males violated equal protection when applied to determine a parent's child-support obligation.

The Supreme Court held that Utah's statute assigning different ages of majority to males (21) and females (18) violates the Equal Protection Clause in the context of child support, affirmed that the case was not moot and that the mother had standing, and reversed the Utah Supreme Court's decision, remanding for…

The Court held that the Younger v. Harris principles of equity, comity, and federalism forbid federal district court intervention in a pending state civil proceeding—here Ohio's public-nuisance suit to close an adult film theater—because the proceeding is in aid of and closely related to criminal obscenity statutes.

The Court held that Texas's automatic dismissal of an escaped prisoner's pending state appeal, with limited opportunities for reinstatement, did not violate the Equal Protection Clause.

The Court held that Texas's statute automatically dismissing the pending appeal of an escaped felony defendant, subject to limited reinstatement provisions, does not violate the Equal Protection Clause.

The Court held that the 1891 Act terminated the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, so South Dakota state courts have jurisdiction over conduct on the non‑Indian, unallotted lands within the original 1867 reservation boundaries; it affirmed the civil habeas decision and reversed the criminal habeas decisions.

The Supreme Court held that school board members sued for damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for expelling students receive a qualified good-faith immunity, but are not immune if they knew or reasonably should have known that their official action would violate a student's constitutional rights, or if they acted with…

The Supreme Court held that Missouri deprived James Drope of due process by failing to suspend his rape trial and inquire into his competence to stand trial after information emerging before and during trial—a pretrial psychiatric report, counsel's assertion that he was 'not a person of sound mind,' testimony of…

The Supreme Court reversed the three‑judge district court and remanded with instructions to dismiss the equal‑protection claim without prejudice, holding that the federal court must abstain because the case hinges on unsettled Texas state‑law questions.

The Supreme Court reversed the district court and remanded with instructions to dismiss the complaint without prejudice, holding that the federal court should have abstained under the Pullman doctrine because the constitutional claim was entangled with unsettled Texas state-law questions.

The Supreme Court held that the case was moot because the district court failed to properly certify the class under Fed. Rule 23(c), vacating the Seventh Circuit judgment and remanding for dismissal; Justice Douglas dissented, arguing the case should be heard on the merits.

The Supreme Court held that the case was moot because the named plaintiffs had graduated and the district court had failed to properly certify the class under Federal Rule 23(c), so the judgment of the Court of Appeals was vacated and the case remanded for further proceedings.

The Court held that the Fourth Amendment requires a timely judicial determination of probable cause before a person arrested without a warrant may be subjected to significant pretrial restraint, including detention, even when a prosecutor has filed an information.

The Supreme Court affirmed a three-judge District Court's judgment that Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 3313.66, which authorized principals to suspend public high school students for up to 10 days without any hearing, violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause.

The Supreme Court held that Louisiana's jury-selection provisions, under which women were excluded from jury service unless they filed a written declaration of willingness to serve, systematically excluded women—who constituted 53% of eligible jurors—from petit jury venires, violating the defendant's Sixth Amendment…