Supreme Court of the United States, 1992

The Court held that federal courts cannot use their inherent supervisory authority to require prosecutors to present substantial exculpatory evidence to a grand jury or dismiss an otherwise valid indictment for failure to do so.

Justice White, joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices Scalia, Souter, and Thomas, held that a state prisoner's failure to develop material facts in state court is governed by cause and actual prejudice, rather than deliberate bypass, when determining entitlement to a federal habeas evidentiary hearing.

Justice O'Connor's opinion for the Court held that an in forma pauperis complaint may be dismissed as factually frivolous under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d) when its allegations are irrational or wholly incredible, even without contradictory judicially noticeable facts, but not merely because the allegations are unlikely.

The Supreme Court held that a bankruptcy trustee who fails to object to a claimed exemption within the 30-day period fixed by Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 4003(b) cannot later challenge the exemption's validity, even where the debtor had no colorable statutory basis for the claim, because 11 U.S.C.

The Court held that, where government inducement is established and entrapment is at issue, the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was predisposed to commit the crime before government agents first approached him.

The Court held that federal courts supervising school desegregation may withdraw supervision incrementally from areas in full compliance while retaining jurisdiction and supervision over unresolved violations.

The Supreme Court, reversing the Seventh Circuit, held that 42 U.S.C. § 671(a)(15) of the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 neither confers a right enforceable under 42 U.S.C.

The Court held that double jeopardy did not bar Felix's Oklahoma prosecution. Introducing evidence of Oklahoma drug offenses under Rule 404(b) at his earlier Missouri trial did not constitute prosecution for those offenses, and a conspiracy remains a separate offense from its substantive objects even when previously…

The Supreme Court held that, for purposes of the 90-day preference period in 11 U.S.C. § 547(b), a transfer made by ordinary check occurs on the date the drawee bank honors the check, not on the date the check is delivered.

Justice Souter delivered the unanimous opinion holding that ERISA's definition of “employee” incorporates traditional common-law agency principles. The Court rejected the Fourth Circuit's alternative test based on expectations of benefits, reliance, and bargaining power, finding it inconsistent with statutory…

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Thomas, held that the Attorney General, through the Bureau of Prisons, must calculate presentence detention credit under 18 U.S.C. § 3585(b) after a defendant begins serving the federal sentence; a district court cannot award that credit at sentencing.

The Court held that 28 U.S.C. § 158(d) does not prevent courts of appeals from exercising jurisdiction under § 1292 over interlocutory orders entered by district courts acting as bankruptcy appellate courts.

The Supreme Court held that a district court's reliance on an invalid ground for departing from the guideline sentencing range—here, prior arrests not resulting in prosecution, a factor the Sentencing Commission has expressly rejected as a standalone basis for departure—is an 'incorrect application of the sentencing…

Justice O’Connor delivered the unanimous opinion affirming the Michigan Supreme Court. The Court held that Michigan’s retroactive requirement that employers repay previously withheld workers’ compensation benefits violated neither the Contract Clause nor due process.

The Court held that the First and Fourteenth Amendments prohibited admitting evidence of Dawson's Aryan Brotherhood membership at his capital sentencing because the evidence established only abstract beliefs unrelated to the crime, aggravating circumstances, or mitigating evidence.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Blackmun joined by Justices White, Stevens, O'Connor, Kennedy, and Souter, held that a federal prisoner seeking only money damages under Bivens need not exhaust the Bureau of Prisons' existing grievance procedure.

Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the unanimous opinion affirming the Rule 11 sanctions. The Federal Rules authorize sanctions for misconduct in district court even when the court is later determined to lack subject-matter jurisdiction.

Justice Stevens delivered the unanimous opinion affirming dismissal of a municipal employee’s widow’s § 1983 action arising from his fatal workplace injury. The Court rejected the Fifth Circuit’s requirement of an abuse of governmental power separate from a constitutional violation, but held that the complaint alleged…

Justice Blackmun delivered the unanimous opinion holding that National Starch's investment banking, legal, and other expenses associated with its friendly acquisition by Unilever were capital expenditures, not currently deductible ordinary and necessary business expenses under § 162(a).

Justice White, joined by Justices Blackmun, Stevens, O'Connor, Kennedy, and Souter, held that monetary damages are available under Title IX's implied private right of action for intentional discrimination.

The Court unanimously held that the EPA acted within its statutory authority in conditioning a federally issued discharge permit on compliance with downstream Oklahoma water quality standards. It did not decide whether the Clean Water Act independently required that compliance.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Scalia joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices White, O'Connor, Kennedy, Souter, and Thomas, held that § 106(c) of the Bankruptcy Code does not unequivocally waive federal sovereign immunity from a bankruptcy trustee's claims for monetary relief.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice O'Connor, held that excessive physical force against a prisoner can violate the Eighth Amendment without causing significant injury and reversed the Fifth Circuit.

Justice White, joined by Justices Blackmun, Stevens, O'Connor, Kennedy, and Souter, held that Wyoming had standing to challenge Oklahoma's requirement that coal-fired utilities burn at least 10% Oklahoma-mined coal because the requirement directly reduced Wyoming's severance-tax revenues.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Scalia joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices White, Kennedy, Souter, and Thomas, held that attempted forced recruitment by guerrillas does not necessarily constitute persecution on account of political opinion.

The Court affirmed White's conviction, holding that the Confrontation Clause does not require production of the declarant or a finding of unavailability before admitting statements under the firmly rooted hearsay exceptions for spontaneous declarations and statements made for medical treatment.

The Court held that § 506(d) does not permit a Chapter 7 debtor to strip down a real-property lien to the judicially determined value of the collateral when the creditor's claim is secured by a lien and fully allowed under § 502.

The Court reversed the Second Circuit and upheld the Attorney General's refusal to reopen Doherty's deportation proceedings. Chief Justice Rehnquist's Part I, joined by Justices White, Blackmun, O'Connor, and Kennedy, explained that reopening is discretionary and that abuse-of-discretion review applies to reopening…