Supreme Court of the United States, 1978

The Court held that the National Bank Act permits a national bank to charge out-of-state credit-card customers the interest rate allowed by the law of the State where the bank is located.

The Court affirmed the New York Court of Appeals, holding that New York’s § 4‑1.2 requirement that an illegitimate child obtain a judicial order of filiation during the father’s lifetime is substantially related to the state’s interest in the orderly disposition of intestate estates and therefore does not violate the…

The Court affirmed the judgment sustaining New York's requirement that an illegitimate child seeking to inherit from an intestate father establish paternity through a judicial order issued during the father's lifetime.

The Court affirmed dismissal of Holt residents' constitutional challenge to Alabama's police-jurisdiction statutes. It held that the three-judge district court was properly convened because the challenged statute established a statewide system, but that residents living outside Tuscaloosa's corporate limits had no…

The Court held that Alabama's statutory system authorizing cities to exercise limited police, sanitary, licensing, and criminal jurisdiction beyond their corporate limits does not violate the Equal Protection or Due Process Clauses merely because residents of the surrounding police jurisdiction cannot vote in the…

The Supreme Court reversed the District of Columbia Circuit and upheld the Federal Communications Commission's declaratory order finding that Pacifica's early-afternoon broadcast of George Carlin's twelve-minute "Filthy Words" monologue was indecent under 18 U.S.C. § 1464.

In a per curiam opinion the Court granted certiorari, reversed the lower court's judgment in part, and remanded with instructions to dismiss the State of Alabama and its Board of Corrections on Eleventh Amendment grounds.

Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court, holding that the Seventh Circuit erred in its analysis of the prima facie case under McDonnell Douglas and that the employer must bear the burden of proving a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason; the Court reversed the appellate judgment and remanded for further…

The Court held that the "boycott" exception in § 3(b) of the McCarran‑Ferguson Act applies to the insurers’ concerted refusal to deal with policyholders, so the antitrust claim is not barred. It reasoned that the term "boycott" carries its ordinary Sherman Act meaning and that the conduct alleged fits that definition.

The Court held that federal executive officials sued for damages for violating citizens' constitutional rights are entitled only to the qualified immunity recognized in Scheuer v.

The Court held that the McCarran-Ferguson Act's boycott exception preserves Sherman Act coverage for concerted refusals by insurers to deal with policyholders, not merely boycotts directed at competing insurers or agents.

Justice Powell, announcing the judgment of the Court, held that the Davis Medical School's special admissions program — a separate track reserving 16 of 100 places for designated minority applicants — was an explicit racial classification that, under the strict scrutiny owed to all racial and ethnic classifications…

The Supreme Court upheld the Price-Anderson Act's $560 million ceiling on liability for nuclear accidents, holding it a classic economic regulation entitled to a presumption of constitutionality that rationally serves Congress' purpose of encouraging private nuclear development, and that its guaranteed recovery fund…

The Supreme Court held that New York City's application of its Landmarks Preservation Law to Grand Central Terminal did not effect a Fifth Amendment taking, applying an essentially ad hoc inquiry into the economic impact of the regulation, its interference with distinct investment-backed expectations, and the…

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Stevens, affirmed the judgment sustaining a 30-day limit on punitive isolation in Arkansas prisons and awards of attorney’s fees payable from state funds.

The Court, in an opinion authored by Justice Stewart, held that a federal district court lacks ancillary jurisdiction over a plaintiff's claim against a third‑party defendant in a diversity action where complete diversity is absent, reversing the Court of Appeals.

The Court held that a district court’s order refusing to certify or decertifying a class action is not a final decision within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. §1291 and therefore is not appealable as a matter of right. The unanimous opinion, authored by Justice Stevens, reversed the Court of Appeals judgment.

The Court held that the Fourth Amendment does not recognize a categorical murder-scene exception permitting an extensive warrantless search of a home when no emergency remains and a warrant could readily be obtained.

The Supreme Court affirmed the Sixth Circuit's permanent injunction barring completion and operation of the virtually completed Tellico Dam, holding that § 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 unambiguously commands all federal agencies to insure that actions they authorize, fund, or carry out do not jeopardize an…

The Court held that the Double Jeopardy Clause bars a second trial when an appellate court reverses a conviction solely because the evidence was legally insufficient, even if the defendant requested a new trial.

The Court held that Ohio could constitutionally discipline a lawyer for in-person solicitation of paying clients when the circumstances posed a substantial risk of overreaching and related harms, even without proof of actual injury.

The Supreme Court affirmed the district court, holding that Montana's elk‑hunting licensing scheme does not violate the Privileges and Immunities Clause or the Equal Protection Clause because elk hunting is a recreational activity, not a fundamental right, and the fee differentials are rationally related to legitimate…

The Court affirmed the judgment rejecting challenges to Montana's resident-nonresident elk-hunting license disparities. It held that recreational elk hunting is not a privilege or immunity protected by Article IV and that the licensing differences rationally further Montana's interests in conserving elk and managing…

The Court held that the Securities and Exchange Commission lacked authority to issue successive 10-day summary suspension orders that extended trading restrictions beyond the initial 10-day period when the orders were based on a single set of circumstances.

The Supreme Court held that a warehouseman's threatened sale of stored goods under New York UCC § 7-210 is not action fairly attributable to the State of New York, so the respondents' complaints failed to state a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for deprivation of Fourteenth Amendment due process.

The Supreme Court held that California could not exercise in personam jurisdiction over a New York-domiciled father in his former wife's action to increase child support, because his only contacts with California — two brief military stopovers, a marriage there, and acquiescence in his daughter's move to live with her…

The Supreme Court affirmed the Second Circuit, holding that the SEC lacks authority to issue a series of ten‑day summary suspension orders based on a single set of circumstances, and that the case is not moot under the Weinstein test.

The Court held that Massachusetts could not bar corporations from spending money to advocate their views on a referendum merely because the issue did not materially affect their business or assets.

The Supreme Court held that Tennessee's statute barring ministers from serving as delegates to the state constitutional convention violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, and reversed the state court's decision, remanding for further proceedings.

The Court held that the common-law right of access to judicial records did not require the District Court to release copies of subpoenaed White House tapes for commercial broadcasting and sale.

The Supreme Court reversed two D.C. Circuit judgments that had invalidated the NRC's uranium fuel cycle rule for allegedly inadequate procedures and had remanded nuclear licensing decisions. Holding that 5 U.S.C.

The Court held that a state judge was absolutely immune from damages liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for approving a petition to sterilize a minor because he had jurisdiction over the subject matter and acted in a judicial capacity.

The Court held that a trial judge does not violate the privilege against compelled self-incrimination by giving, over the defendant’s objection, an instruction directing the jury not to draw adverse inferences from the defendant’s failure to testify.

The Court held that giving a jury a cautionary instruction not to draw adverse inferences from a defendant's failure to testify does not violate the privilege against compulsory self-incrimination, even when the defendant objects.

The Supreme Court held that the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment does not bar a federal prosecution under the Major Crimes Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1153, following a tribal-court conviction for a lesser included offense arising from the same incident, because an Indian tribe acts as a separate sovereign when it…

The Court held that damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 are governed by the compensation principle: students suspended from public school without procedural due process must prove actual injury — including mental or emotional distress caused by the denial itself — before recovering substantial compensatory damages, and…

The Supreme Court held that Indian tribal courts lack inherent criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians; tribes may try and punish non-Indian offenders only where Congress has affirmatively authorized it.

The Court held that Wisconsin's restrictions on operating 65-foot double-trailer trucks unconstitutionally burden interstate commerce. Although highway safety is a legitimate state interest entitled to a strong presumption of validity, the State's safety justification was unsupported by the record, while the…

The Court held that Wisconsin's restrictions on 65-foot double-trailer trucks unconstitutionally burden interstate commerce because the State's asserted highway-safety justification was unsupported by the record, while the regulations imposed substantial costs, delays, and routing burdens.