Supreme Court of the United States, 1994

The Court held that the Equal Protection Clause prohibits intentional gender discrimination in peremptory challenges: gender cannot serve as a proxy for juror competence, impartiality, or likely sympathies.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Kennedy joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices O'Connor, Scalia, and Thomas, held that private plaintiffs cannot maintain aiding and abetting claims under § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

The Supreme Court held that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment forbids litigants to exercise peremptory challenges on the basis of gender, extending the Batson race-discrimination rule to sex: gender, like race, is an unconstitutional proxy for juror competence and impartiality.

Justice Thomas, writing for seven Justices, held that Oregon's higher surcharge on disposal of out-of-state solid waste facially discriminated against interstate commerce and violated the negative Commerce Clause.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice O'Connor, upheld both challenged reasonable-doubt instructions because, read as a whole, neither created a reasonable likelihood that the jury convicted on constitutionally insufficient proof.

Justice Scalia's five-Justice majority held that the extrajudicial-source doctrine applies to recusal under 28 U.S.C. § 455(a), but that an extrajudicial source is neither necessary nor sufficient for disqualification.

Justice Souter, writing for a unanimous Court, held that a commercial parody may qualify as fair use and that commerciality does not create presumptions against a transformative use under either the purpose-and-character or market-harm factor.

Chief Justice Rehnquist, writing for eight Justices, held that prevailing plaintiffs and defendants must be treated alike when courts award attorney's fees under 17 U.S.C. § 505, but that awards remain discretionary rather than automatic.

The Court, in an opinion by Thomas joined by Rehnquist, Blackmun, Stevens, O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, and Souter, reversed the Fifth Circuit and held that disclosure of federal employees' home addresses to their collective-bargaining representatives would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy…

The Supreme Court reversed the Eighth Circuit's direction to grant habeas relief to Christopher Bohlen, holding that extending the Double Jeopardy Clause's Bullington protection to successive noncapital sentence-enhancement proceedings would announce a 'new rule' of constitutional law under Teague v.

Justice Ginsburg, writing for a unanimous Court, held that appellate review of qualified immunity must consider all relevant precedents, including authorities not presented to or considered by the district court.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Scalia joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices Blackmun, O'Connor, Souter, and Ginsburg, affirmed Louisiana's judgment that federal maritime law does not require state courts to apply federal forum non conveniens doctrine in maritime and Jones Act actions involving domestic…

Justice Thomas delivered the unanimous opinion holding that Bivens does not authorize a damages action directly against a federal agency. The Court concluded that Meyer's constitutional tort claim was not cognizable under the Federal Tort Claims Act and that FSLIC's sue-and-be-sued clause waived its sovereign immunity…

The Court affirmed dismissal of Albright's § 1983 complaint, but no rationale commanded five votes. Chief Justice Rehnquist's plurality, joined by Justices O'Connor, Scalia, and Ginsburg, concluded that Albright's claim belonged under the Fourth Amendment rather than substantive due process, without deciding whether a…

Chief Justice Rehnquist, writing for a unanimous Court, held that RICO does not require an economic motive on the part of either the enterprise or the predicate racketeering activity. The Court also held that the clinics adequately alleged injury traceable to respondents to establish standing at the pleading stage.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Blackmun, held that the Mine Act's comprehensive administrative and appellate review scheme precludes district court jurisdiction over Thunder Basin's pre-enforcement challenge to miners' representative designations.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Ginsburg joined by Justices Stevens, Scalia, Kennedy, and Souter, held that conviction for willfully structuring currency transactions under 31 U. S. C.