Supreme Court of the United States, 2021

The Court denied the application for injunctive relief without explaining its reasons or deciding the merits of the applicants’ free-exercise claims. Justice Thomas would have granted the application.

The Court denied certiorari without explaining its reasons or deciding the merits. Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justice Sotomayor, dissented from the denial. He would have granted review to address whether the public has a qualified First Amendment right of access to significant Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court…

The Court unanimously held per curiam that Officers Girdner and Vick were entitled to qualified immunity because no precedent clearly established that their conduct violated the Fourth Amendment.

In a per curiam opinion, the Court held that Officers Girdner and Vick were entitled to qualified immunity because no clearly established law prohibited their conduct before or during the fatal shooting of Rollice.

The Court denied certiorari without addressing the merits. Justice Sotomayor, writing alone in a statement respecting the denial, agreed that the petition did not satisfy the Court’s traditional certiorari criteria but criticized the Eighth Circuit for reversing habeas relief on a procedural-default argument the State…

Chief Justice Roberts’s opinion held that Philadelphia violated the Free Exercise Clause by conditioning its foster care contract with Catholic Social Services on certification of same-sex couples.

The Court denied certiorari without addressing the merits of the actual-malice requirement for public-figure defamation plaintiffs. Justice Thomas, writing alone in dissent, would have granted review to reconsider that requirement, arguing that it lacks constitutional and historical support and deprives victims of…

Justice Barrett, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Alito, Kagan, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh, held that FOIA’s deliberative process privilege protects the Services’ internal draft biological opinions because they were predecisional and deliberative, not final agency decisions.

The Court held that administrative patent judges cannot constitutionally exercise unreviewable authority in inter partes review while appointed by the Secretary of Commerce as inferior officers. Chief Justice Roberts's constitutional analysis was joined by Justices Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett.

Justice Alito’s majority opinion held that the Recovery Act barred the shareholders’ statutory challenge to the net worth sweep because the FHFA acted within its conservatorship authority.

The Court held per curiam that the Ninth Circuit violated AEDPA’s deferential standard by rejecting the state court’s determination that Kayer had not established prejudice from counsel’s allegedly inadequate mitigation investigation.

Justice Breyer, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh, held that Google’s copying of Java API declaring code to reimplement a user interface for Android constituted fair use as a matter of law.

The Court denied certiorari without addressing the merits of Chicago’s taking of Eychaner’s property for transfer to a private company. Justice Kavanaugh would have granted review. Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Gorsuch, dissented, arguing that the Court should reconsider Kelo v.

The Court held per curiam that the Eleventh Circuit improperly denied deference to Alabama’s rejection of Reeves’ ineffective-assistance claim concerning counsel’s failure to hire a neuropsychologist for sentencing mitigation.

Justice Kagan, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kavanaugh, upheld assignor estoppel but confined it to invalidity defenses that contradict explicit or implicit representations made when assigning patent rights.

The Court held that 8 U.S.C. §1231, rather than §1226, governs detention of noncitizens subject to reinstated removal orders while they pursue withholding-only relief, so they are not entitled to bond hearings under §1226.

Justice Kavanaugh, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Alito, Gorsuch, and Barrett, held that a statutory violation alone does not establish Article III standing: each plaintiff seeking damages must demonstrate concrete harm.

Justice Kagan’s opinion held that pursuit of a fleeing misdemeanor suspect does not categorically justify warrantless entry into a home. Officers must assess the totality of the circumstances for an emergency requiring immediate action, including threats of violence, destruction of evidence, or escape.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Breyer joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, affirmed the judgment that the school violated B.

The Court held that pursuing a fleeing misdemeanor suspect does not categorically justify warrantless entry into a home. Officers must assess all the circumstances to determine whether an emergency requires entry before a warrant can be obtained.

Justice Alito’s majority opinion held that the Recovery Act bars the shareholders’ statutory challenge to the net worth sweep because the FHFA acted within its conservatorship authority.

The Court, in an opinion by Chief Justice Roberts joined by Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, held that California’s regulation granting union organizers access to agricultural employers’ property effects a per se physical taking.

Justice Breyer’s opinion, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Sotomayor, Kagan, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, held that neither the individual nor the state plaintiffs had Article III standing to challenge the Affordable Care Act’s minimum essential coverage requirement after Congress reduced its…

The Court held, in Parts I and II of Justice Thomas’s opinion, joined by every Justice except Justice Alito, that the plaintiffs impermissibly sought an extraterritorial application of the Alien Tort Statute.

The Court held that a crack-cocaine conviction under 21 U.S.C. §841(b)(1)(C) is not a covered offense eligible for a sentence reduction under the First Step Act because the Fair Sentencing Act did not modify its statutory penalties.

The Court reversed the Sixth Circuit and remanded, concluding that an offense requiring only ordinary recklessness does not qualify as a violent felony under ACCA’s elements clause.

The Court denied certiorari without deciding the constitutionality of male-only Selective Service registration or reconsidering Rostker v. Goldberg. Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Breyer and Kavanaugh, issued a statement agreeing with the denial.

Justice Kagan delivered the unanimous opinion holding that a grant of Temporary Protected Status does not itself make a person who entered the United States unlawfully eligible for adjustment to lawful permanent resident status under 8 U.S.C. §1255.

Justice Barrett, joined by Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh, held that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act’s prohibition on exceeding authorized access covers obtaining information from computer areas that are off limits, not obtaining otherwise accessible information for an improper purpose.

Justice Gorsuch delivered the unanimous opinion holding that the Ninth Circuit’s rule deeming an immigration applicant’s testimony credible and true absent an explicit adverse credibility determination conflicts with the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Justice Alito, writing for a unanimous Court, held that Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 39 does not authorize a district court to alter a court of appeals’ allocation of appellate costs taxable in the district court under Rule 39(e).

Justice Thomas delivered the unanimous opinion holding that a settlement triggers a right to contribution under CERCLA §113(f)(3)(B) only if it resolves a CERCLA-specific liability. Guam’s settlement of Clean Water Act claims therefore did not trigger that contribution right.

Justice Sotomayor, writing for a unanimous Court, held that all three requirements of 8 U. S. C. §1326(d) are mandatory when a defendant charged with unlawful reentry collaterally challenges an underlying removal order.

The Court, in an opinion by Justice Kavanaugh, held that Ramos v. Louisiana announced a new procedural rule requiring unanimous jury verdicts for serious state criminal offenses and that the rule does not apply retroactively on federal collateral review.

Justice Thomas, writing for a unanimous Court, held that Cady v. Dombrowski's recognition of police community-caretaking functions does not create a standalone exception permitting warrantless searches and seizures in the home.

Justice Kagan, writing for a unanimous Court, held that the Anti-Injunction Act does not bar CIC’s pre-enforcement challenge to IRS Notice 2016–66. The suit objectively targets an independently burdensome reporting requirement, not the downstream tax penalties for noncompliance.

Justice Gorsuch, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Breyer, Kagan, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, held that 28 U.S.C. §1447(d) permits appellate review of an entire remand order when removal was premised in part on the federal-officer or civil-rights removal statute.

The Court denied certiorari without addressing the merits of a West Point cadet’s Federal Tort Claims Act claims concerning inadequate protection against sexual assault. Justice Thomas dissented, with no other Justice joining. He argued that Feres v.

The Court denied Texas leave to file an original bill of complaint against California without explaining its reasons or deciding Texas’s constitutional claims. Justice Alito, joined by Justice Thomas, dissented, questioning the Court’s asserted discretion to decline cases within its exclusive original jurisdiction…

The Court held per curiam that Wright's federal custody for failing to register as a sex offender did not place him in custody pursuant to a state-court judgment under 28 U.S.C. §2254(a), even though his expired Alaska conviction was a predicate for the federal conviction. Applying Maleng v.