The Court held that New York’s ch. 996, which authorized reimbursement to sectarian schools for mandated services, violates the Establishment Clause and reversed the New York Court of Appeals, remanding for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Supreme Court of the United States, 1977
Published opinions from 1977. The case name opens the case page.
1977 opinions
The Supreme Court held that Congress may constitutionally require termination of a dependent child's Social Security benefits upon marriage, even when the spouse is permanently disabled, and that the 1958 amendment creating an exception for marriages between beneficiaries is a valid classification.
The Supreme Court vacated the Fifth Circuit’s judgment and remanded the case for dismissal of the federal indictment, holding that the district court abused its discretion by refusing the government’s Rule 48(a) motion despite the government’s later compliance with the Petite policy.
The Court, in a per curiam opinion, vacated the judgment of the Court of Appeals and remanded the case to the District Court for dismissal of the federal indictment, holding that the government's bad‑faith prosecution does not preclude dismissal under the Petite policy.
The Court held that imposing death for Coker’s rape of an adult woman was grossly disproportionate and violated the Eighth Amendment, even though the jury found aggravating circumstances, including prior capital-felony convictions and an armed robbery committed during the rape.
The Court held that the First and Fourteenth Amendments do not require Ohio to immunize a television station from a state-law right-of-publicity claim when it broadcasts an entertainer's entire performance without consent.
The Supreme Court affirmed a three-judge District Court's dismissal of former President Nixon's facial challenge to Title I of Pub. L. 93-526, the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act, which transferred custody of his presidential papers and tape recordings to the Administrator of General Services…
The Court vacated the Court of Appeals' systemwide desegregation remedy because the remedy was disproportionate to the constitutional violations found by the District Court and was imposed without the appellate court making new factual findings or identifying legal error.
The Supreme Court affirmed in part and reversed in part the Arizona Supreme Court's judgment sustaining Disciplinary Rule 2-101(B), which barred advertising by attorneys. It held that appellants' Sherman Act claim was barred by the Parker v.
The Court upheld Ohio's provision of secular textbooks, standardized testing, diagnostic services, and therapeutic or remedial services to pupils in nonpublic schools, but invalidated aid for instructional materials and equipment and transportation for field trips.
The Supreme Court held that all assertions of state-court jurisdiction, including in rem and quasi in rem actions, must satisfy the minimum-contacts standard of International Shoe, and that Delaware could not constitutionally exercise jurisdiction over nonresident corporate officers and directors based solely on the…
Justice STEVENS delivered the opinion of the Court, holding that the Tribe's sovereign immunity bars the state court's jurisdiction over the Tribe itself, so the portions of the order against the Tribe are vacated, while the State may continue to regulate individual tribal members off the reservation.
The Supreme Court held that a state prisoner who fails to comply with a state contemporaneous-objection rule — here, Florida's requirement that a motion to suppress a confession be made before trial — forfeits federal habeas review of the underlying constitutional claim unless he shows cause for the default and actual…
The Court held that Washington courts could not impose relief directly against the Puyallup Tribe without a waiver or consent, although they could adjudicate and regulate the fishing activities of individual tribal members.
The Court held that Title XIX does not require participating States to fund nontherapeutic abortions, because the statute gives States broad discretion to define the extent of medical assistance through reasonable standards consistent with Medicaid's objectives.
The Court held that Title XIX does not require participating States to fund nontherapeutic abortions, because the statute gives States broad discretion to establish reasonable standards defining the extent of Medicaid assistance.
The Court, in an opinion authored by Chief Justice Burger, affirmed the district court's judgment. It held that the Washington State Apple Advertising Commission has standing to sue in a representational capacity, that the $10,000 amount‑in‑controversy requirement of 28 U.S.C.
Justice White delivered the opinion of the Court, holding that New York's allocation of the burden of persuasion to the defendant for the affirmative defense of extreme emotional disturbance does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause, and therefore affirmed the judgment of the New York Court of…
The Court, in an opinion authored by Justice Powell, held that Ohio's joyriding and auto theft statutes define the same statutory offense under the Blockburger test, so the second prosecution violated the Double Jeopardy Clause and the judgment of the Ohio Court of Appeals was reversed.
The Supreme Court reversed the Eighth Circuit and held that Trans World Airlines did not violate Title VII by discharging Larry Hardison, a Worldwide Church of God member who refused Saturday work, because TWA had reasonably accommodated his Sabbath observance and any further accommodation would have imposed an undue…
The Court, in a per curiam opinion, held that the Illinois Supreme Court's denial of a stay of the Circuit Court injunction constitutes a final judgment subject to review under 28 U.S.C. §1257, granting certiorari and reversing and remanding the denial.
The Court held that Lee's retrial did not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause because the first proceeding was terminated at his request after the court dismissed a defective information, and the dismissal was functionally equivalent to a mistrial rather than a favorable termination.
The Supreme Court held that a pretrial order denying a motion to dismiss an indictment on double jeopardy grounds is a 'final decision' immediately appealable under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, because such an order falls within the collateral-order exception: it conclusively resolves the jeopardy claim, the claim is collateral…
The Supreme Court reversed the Eighth Circuit's affirmance of a district court order dismissing an indictment on due process grounds because of an 18-month preindictment delay. Holding that proof of prejudice is generally a necessary but not sufficient element of a due process claim, the Court ruled that prosecuting a…
The Court held that a third‑party indemnity claim against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act is barred when the injury involves a serviceman injured in the course of military service.
The Supreme Court reversed the District Court, holding that Ohio's labor‑dispute disqualification provision for unemployment benefits is not pre‑empted by federal law and does not violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process or Equal Protection Clauses; the Court also declined to abstain under Pullman or Younger…
The Supreme Court held that the Government proved a systemwide pattern or practice of racial and ethnic discrimination by T.I.M.E.-D.C. in hiring, assigning, and promoting line drivers, resting on gross statistical disparities corroborated by testimony of more than 40 specific instances of discrimination.
The Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Stewart, held that a Michigan agency-shop clause requiring nonmember public-school teachers to pay service fees equal to union dues is constitutional insofar as the fees finance collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance adjustment, but that compelling…
The Supreme Court held that Willingboro, N.J.'s Ordinance 5-1974, which banned "For Sale" and "Sold" signs to stem panic selling and preserve racial integration, violates the First Amendment.
The Court held that prisoners have a fundamental constitutional right of meaningful access to the courts, requiring prison authorities to assist inmates in preparing and filing legal papers.
The Court held that Illinois violated the Equal Protection Clause by categorically preventing children born outside marriage from inheriting intestate from their fathers, even though legitimate children could inherit from both parents.
The Supreme Court affirmed a three-judge District Court's dismissal of a constitutional challenge by unwed natural fathers and their illegitimate children to §§ 101(b)(1)(D) and 101(b)(2) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which extend special immigration preferences to the 'child' or 'parent' of a citizen or…
The Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause, historically confined to the criminal process, does not apply to the paddling of children as a means of maintaining discipline in public schools.
The Supreme Court affirmed the grant of habeas corpus relief, holding that Detective Leaming deliberately elicited incriminating information from Williams during the automobile trip from Davenport to Des Moines after judicial proceedings had been initiated, depriving him of his Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment right to…
An opinion by Justice Stevens, joined by Justices Stewart and Powell, held that Florida denied petitioner due process of law when the trial judge imposed a death sentence relying in part on a confidential portion of a presentence investigation report that was never disclosed to petitioner or his counsel, leaving him…
The Court held that the Administrative Procedure Act does not independently confer subject-matter jurisdiction to review federal agency action and that the Social Security Act does not authorize review of the Secretary’s refusal to reopen a previously adjudicated benefits claim.
The Supreme Court reversed a three-judge District Court's injunction against the patient-identification provisions of New York's Controlled Substances Act of 1972, which require triplicate prescriptions for Schedule II drugs and central computerized storage in Albany of patients' names and addresses.