Supreme Court of the United States, 1989

Justice Blackmun, joined by Justice O’Connor, concurred in the judgment because the Texas tax exemption, as construed, exclusively favored religious publications and therefore violated the Establishment Clause.

The Court reversed the Florida Supreme Court's judgment suppressing evidence obtained following naked-eye helicopter surveillance of Riley's greenhouse from 400 feet. Justice White's plurality, joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices Scalia and Kennedy, concluded that the lawful flight, absence of evidence that…

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Kennedy, held that respondents' counseled and voluntary guilty pleas to indictments facially charging separate conspiracies foreclosed a collateral double jeopardy challenge requiring evidence beyond the original record and contradicting the admissions inherent in those pleas.

The Court affirmed the invalidation of Richmond's requirement that prime contractors subcontract at least 30% of city construction contracts to minority-owned businesses. Justice O'Connor's opinion commanded a majority for Parts I, III-B, and IV: Richmond lacked sufficiently specific evidence of discrimination to…

The Court, in an opinion by Chief Justice Rehnquist, held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act supplies the exclusive basis for jurisdiction over foreign states in United States courts and that no exception permitted these claims arising from Argentina's attack on a neutral vessel on the high seas.

Chief Justice Rehnquist, writing for a unanimous Court, held that Webster County violated equal protection by assessing petitioners’ recently purchased property at values roughly 8 to 35 times those assigned to comparable neighboring property, with disparities persisting for more than a decade.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Blackmun, upheld the Sentencing Reform Act against nondelegation and separation-of-powers challenges and affirmed the District Court's judgment.

Justice Marshall delivered the unanimous opinion holding that, when a State provides multiple limitations periods for personal injury actions, courts hearing § 1983 claims must borrow the general or residual personal injury limitations period rather than a period governing enumerated intentional torts.

The Court affirmed the denial of habeas relief, holding that a trial judge may prohibit a testifying defendant from consulting counsel during a brief recess in ongoing testimony.

Chief Justice Rehnquist's majority opinion held that police failure to preserve potentially useful evidence violates due process only if the defendant shows bad faith. The failure to refrigerate clothing and test semen samples was, at worst, negligent, so Youngblood suffered no due process violation.