Supreme Court of the United States, 1986

The Court affirmed the First Circuit, holding that MCFL's election publication violated the statutory prohibition on corporate expenditures but that the prohibition was unconstitutional as applied to MCFL.

The Court, through Chief Justice Rehnquist, held that coercive police activity is necessary to render a confession involuntary under the Fourteenth Amendment and that mental illness alone does not establish constitutional involuntariness.

Justice Stevens’s majority opinion held that alleging a federal statutory violation as an element of a state-law cause of action does not establish federal-question jurisdiction when Congress intended no private federal remedy for that violation.

Chief Justice Burger's majority opinion held that the First Amendment permitted a public high school to discipline a student for a lewd and indecent speech at a school-sponsored assembly.

The Court held that the Eleventh Amendment barred claims seeking restoration of Mississippi's lost school-land trust assets or replacement income, but did not bar prospective relief against an ongoing unequal distribution of school-land benefits.

Justice White's opinion held that the Clean Air Act permits compensation for administrative work necessary to protect and enforce relief obtained through a consent decree. The Court affirmed fees for that work but reversed the enhancement for superior representation because the lodestar presumptively reflected…

The Supreme Court affirmed the Second Circuit, holding that § 706(g) of Title VII does not bar a district court from ordering race‑conscious affirmative‑action remedies that benefit individuals who are not the identified victims of discrimination, and that the district court’s contempt sanctions, membership‑percentage…

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Rehnquist, reversed and remanded, holding that Younger abstention barred federal interference with the pending Ohio Civil Rights Commission proceeding.

The Court affirmed the Third Circuit's judgment requiring further consideration of prejudice. Justice Brennan's majority opinion held that Stone v. Powell does not bar federal habeas review of ineffective-assistance claims based on counsel's incompetent handling of Fourth Amendment issues.

The Court held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits executing an insane prisoner and reversed the denial of Ford's habeas petition. Justice Marshall's opinion commanded a majority in Parts I and II; only Justices Brennan, Blackmun, and Stevens joined its procedural analysis in Parts III–V.

The Court held that counsel's inadvertent failure to raise a claim on appeal does not establish cause excusing a state procedural default unless the error constitutes constitutionally ineffective assistance.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Rehnquist joined by Justices White, Marshall, Powell, and O'Connor, held that a summary-judgment movant need not produce evidence negating an essential element on which the opposing party bears the trial burden.

Justice White, joined by Justices Marshall, Blackmun, Powell, Stevens, and O'Connor, held that courts deciding summary judgment must consider the substantive burden of proof applicable at trial.

Justice Powell's majority opinion upheld the denial of habeas relief. The Court held that the record supported excluding a prospective juror because of his opposition to capital punishment; that the prosecutors' improper closing arguments did not render the trial fundamentally unfair or undermine sentencing…

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Rehnquist, upheld Pennsylvania's statute requiring a five-year minimum sentence when a sentencing judge finds visible possession of a firearm by a preponderance of the evidence.

The Court held that sexual harassment creating a hostile or abusive work environment violates Title VII even without tangible economic injury, provided it is sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter employment conditions.

The Court held that Florida could impose its sales tax on aviation fuel purchased by a foreign airline. The Federal Aviation Act expressly permits state sales and use taxes, defeating Wardair's preemption argument, and international agreements demonstrated affirmative federal action permitting rather than leaving…

Justice O’Connor delivered the unanimous opinion of the Court, holding that the blanket exclusion of testimony about the circumstances surrounding Crane’s confession deprived him of a meaningful opportunity to present a complete defense.

Justice Powell, writing for a unanimous Court, held that the Social Security Act’s 60-day deadline for seeking judicial review is a nonjurisdictional statute of limitations subject to equitable tolling.

The Court, in an opinion by Chief Justice Burger, held that warrantless naked-eye observation of a fenced residential backyard from an aircraft lawfully flying in public navigable airspace at 1,000 feet did not violate the Fourth Amendment.

Justice Marshall delivered the unanimous opinion holding that CETA’s 120-day deadline does not deprive the Secretary of Labor of authority to recover misspent funds after the deadline expires.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Blackmun, held that refundable earned-income credits may be intercepted to satisfy past-due child support assigned to a State and affirmed the Ninth Circuit.

The Court held per curiam that a jury verdict finding no constitutional injury by the individual police officer precluded damages against the city and its Police Commission for that officer's conduct.

The Court, per curiam, held that the subsidiary factual determinations underlying patent obviousness are subject to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(a). Because the Federal Circuit neither expressly applied clear-error review nor explained its view of the Rule's applicability, the Court vacated its judgment and…

Justice Rehnquist's majority opinion held that completely barring inquiry into a prosecution witness's possible bias arising from dismissal of a criminal charge violated the Confrontation Clause, but that the violation was subject to harmless-error review rather than automatic reversal.

Justice White's opinion for the unanimous Court held that courts, not arbitrators, must determine whether parties agreed to arbitrate a particular grievance unless the parties clearly and unmistakably provide otherwise.

Justice Stevens's majority opinion held that when a defendant requests counsel at arraignment or a similar proceeding, a subsequent waiver of counsel during police-initiated interrogation is invalid.

Justice Powell's majority opinion held that the Court of Appeals applied improper standards in reversing summary judgment for the Japanese electronics manufacturers. An antitrust conspiracy plaintiff must produce evidence tending to exclude independent action, and an economically implausible conspiracy requires more…

The Court held that a single decision by an authorized municipal policymaker can constitute official policy supporting liability under § 1983. It reversed the dismissal of Pembaur's claim against Hamilton County because the County Prosecutor, acting as the County's final decisionmaker under the circumstances, directed…

Justice O'Connor's opinion held that police failure to inform Burbine of an attorney's efforts to reach him, and their misleading assurances to the attorney, did not invalidate his otherwise voluntary, knowing, and intelligent Miranda waivers.

Justice Powell's opinion for the Court held that the Confrontation Clause does not require the Government to establish a nontestifying co-conspirator's unavailability before introducing statements otherwise admissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2)(E). Ohio v.

Justice White's majority opinion held that police officers applying for warrants receive qualified, not absolute, immunity from damages under § 1983. Immunity depends on objective reasonableness and is lost when the application is so deficient that no reasonably competent officer would have sought the warrant…

Justice O'Connor's opinion for the Court held that force used to quell a prison disturbance posing significant safety risks violates the Eighth Amendment when applied maliciously and sadistically to cause harm, rather than in a good-faith effort to restore discipline.

The Court held that California could not require a privately owned utility to carry a consumer group's speech in the utility's billing envelopes. The order burdened the utility's protected speech by compelling association with potentially hostile views and by granting access based on viewpoint, and it was neither…

The Court affirmed, holding that an official's merely negligent conduct causing unintended injury does not implicate the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause. It overruled Parratt v.