Supreme Court of the United States, 2019

The Court held that Rule 23(f)'s 14-day deadline for appealing class certification is not subject to equitable tolling because the Rules clearly preclude extensions. It reversed the Ninth Circuit, which had tolled the deadline based on petitioner's diligence.

The Supreme Court held that a federal appellate court may not count the vote of a judge who died before the decision was filed. Because the deceased judge was not an active judge, his vote could not constitute a majority, rendering the Ninth Circuit’s en banc opinion invalid.

The Court held that West Virginia's tax exemption for state law‑enforcement retirees that denied the same benefit to former federal law‑enforcement retirees violates 4 U.S.C. §111 because it discriminates on the basis of the source of compensation.

The Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause is incorporated against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, vacating the Indiana Supreme Court’s judgment and remanding for further proceedings consistent with that holding.

Justice Gorsuch concurs with the Court’s determination that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause against the states. He agrees with the result but argues that the proper constitutional vehicle may be the Privileges or Immunities Clause rather than the Due Process Clause…

The Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause is incorporated against the States under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. Tyson Timbs’s Land Rover was seized and the State sought civil forfeiture, which the trial court found disproportionate to his fine.

The Supreme Court reversed the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ judgment that Bobby James Moore was not intellectually disabled and therefore eligible for execution. The Court held that the state court’s reliance on outdated lay‑factor tests violated the standards set in Atkins and Hall, requiring assessment based on…

The Supreme Court reversed the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals' judgment that Bobby James Moore was not intellectually disabled and thus eligible for the death penalty, holding that the appellate court’s reliance on the Briseno factors violated the Court’s prior rulings on Atkins.

The Supreme Court denied the petition for a writ of certiorari filed by former Congressman Aaron Schock. The Court noted that the district court’s provisional denial of his Rulemaking Clause motion may not be a final, conclusive order sufficient for collateral‑order jurisdiction, and therefore the issue was not ripe…

Chief Justice Roberts concurs in the Court's reversal of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals judgment, arguing that the Court exceeded its role by fact‑finding and that the standard for assessing intellectual disability set out in Moore remains unclear.

Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court, holding that an inventor's commercial sale to a third party obligated to keep the invention confidential can qualify as prior art under the America Invents Act's on-sale bar.

Justice Alito, joined by Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh, denied the petition for a writ of certiorari. The Court explained that unresolved factual questions about the coach’s employment reason preclude review of the free‑speech claim at this stage.

The Court held that a court, rather than an arbitrator, must decide whether the Federal Arbitration Act's transportation-worker exclusion applies before compelling arbitration. It further held that the statutory phrase "contracts of employment" includes agreements requiring independent contractors to perform work…

Justice Ginsburg concurs with the Court’s judgment and emphasizes that statutory words should be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning at the time Congress enacted the statute, while acknowledging that Congress may draft legislation to address changing circumstances.

The Supreme Court held that Florida robbery qualifies as a violent felony under the Armed Career Criminal Act's elements clause. Robbery under Florida law requires the use of force sufficient to overcome a victim's resistance, which the Court concluded constitutes 'physical force' capable of causing pain or injury as…

The Supreme Court held that the 25% cap on attorney's fees in 42 U.S.C. § 406(b)(1)(A) limits only fees for representation before a court and does not cap the aggregate of fees awarded under § 406(a) for agency-stage representation and § 406(b) for court-stage representation.

The Supreme Court held that the "wholly groundless" exception—under which some federal courts decide the threshold arbitrability question themselves despite a contractual delegation of that question to the arbitrator—is inconsistent with the Federal Arbitration Act.

In a per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit's reinstatement of an excessive force claim against Sergeant Toth, who used no force, and vacated the denial of qualified immunity to Officer Craig because the court below defined the clearly established right only at a high level of generality.

The Supreme Court denied the petition for a writ of certiorari, and Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Ginsburg and Kagan, dissented, arguing that the state court’s conclusion that the lack of mitigating evidence caused no prejudice was unreasonable under Strickland and the AEDPA.

The Supreme Court denied the petition for certiorari in Hester v. United States. Justice Alito filed a brief concurring in the denial, while Justices Gorsuch and Sotomayor dissented, arguing that the Sixth Amendment requires a jury to find the facts supporting a restitution order.