U.S. Supreme Court Cases

Case | Decision Summary
A. L. A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States (1935)  | Struck down regulations that fixed the hours and wages of individuals employed by an intrastate business because the activity being regulated related to interstate commerce only indirectly.
ASARCO Inc. v. Kadish (1989)  | Restated Rooker-Feldman doctrine that 28 U. S. C. § 1257 ordinarily bars direct review in lower federal courts of decision reached by highest state court; such authority is vested solely in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Abdul-Kabir v. Quarterman (2007)  | The 5-4 ruling overturned the death penalty; found a reasonable likelihood that trial judge's instructions to Texas jury that sentenced defendant to death prevented jurors from giving meaningful consideration to constitutionally relevant mitigating evidence.
Abington School District v. Schempp (1963)  | Held that compulsory school prayer is unconstitutional.
Abood v. Detroit Bd. of Ed. (1977)  | Held public-sector unions constitutionally prohibited from using fees of objecting nonmembers for ideological purposes not germane to union's collective-bargaining duties.
Abrams v. United States |
Abstention doctrine | Allowed federal courts to refrain from hearing lawsuits under a variety of circumstances that concern possible interference with other proceedings.
Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena (1995)  | Held government affirmative action programs to an exacting "strict scrutiny"; requires invalidating them unless justified to remedy past discrimination.
Aguilar v. Felton (1985)  | Held the Establishment Clause prohibits governmental financial assistance to parochial schools.
Alaska v. United States (2005)  | Nearly unanimously held against a claim asserted by state of Alaska to certain submerged lands underlying waters in Southeast Alaska, including lands in between and fringing the southeastern Alaska islands known as the Alexander Archipelago.
Ali v. Federal Bureau of Prisons | Presents a question to Supreme Court concerning Federal Tort Claims Act.
Allen v. Illinois (1986)  | Held that privilege against self-incrimination does not protect person in medication hearing because it is a civil proceeding.
Alyeska Pipeline Serv. Co. v. Wilderness Soc'y (1975)  | Reiterated the "American rule" prohibiting the winner in a lawsuit from recovering legal fees from the loser: "the prevailing litigant is ordinarily not entitled to collect a reasonable attorneys' fee from the loser."