Opinions
Opinions
Supreme Court
Sandra Day O'Connor served as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1981 to 2006. This page lists the opinions she wrote during her time on the court.
Post Retirement Opinions
After her retirement from the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor continued to hear cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit as a designated judge.
Arizona Appellate Court Opinions
Sandra Day O'Connor served as a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals from 1980 to 1981. This page lists the opinions she wrote during her time on the state bench.
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JUSTICE O’CONNOR, dissenting.
For the reasons given by CHIEF JUSTICE REHNQUIST, ante at 486 U. S. 871 -873, I agree that “constructive knowledge” cannot be the basis for a violation of 28 U.S.C. § 455(a). The question then remains whether respondent is entitled to a new trial because there are other “extraordinary circumstances,” apart from the § 455(a) violation found by the Fifth Circuit, that justify “relief from the operation of the judgment.” See Fed.Rule Civ.Proc. 60(b)(6); Ackermann v. United States, 340 U. S. 193, 340 U. S. 199 (1950); Klapprott v. United States, 335 U. S. 601, 335 U. S. 613 (1949). Although the Court collects an impressive array of arguments that might support the granting of such relief, I believe the issue should be addressed in the first instance by the courts below. I would therefore remand this case with appropriate instructions.
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE KENNEDY joins, concurring.
I agree with the Court’s conclusion that the facial challenge to Local Law 63 must fail. I write separately only to note that nothing in the Court’s opinion in any way undermines or denigrates the importance of any associational interests at stake.
The Court reaffirms the
power of States to pursue the profoundly important goal of ensuring nondiscriminatory access to commercial opportunities in our society.
Roberts v. United States Jaycees, 468 U. S. 609, 468 U. S. 632 (1984) (O’CONNOR, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment). But our cases also recognize an “association’s First Amendment right to control its membership,” acknowledging, of course, that the strength of any such right varies with the nature of the organization. Id. at 468 U. S. 635. Balancing these two important interests calls for sensitive tools. As it has been interpreted, Local Law 63 is such a device.
The Law identifies three factors to be used to determine whether a particular club is “distinctly private” for purposes of applying the city’s antidiscrimination laws. As the Court notes, however, ante at 487 U. S. 15, n. 6, the court below has suggested that the factors identified in Local Law 63 are not exclusive, but are to be considered along with other considerations such as ” size, purpose, policies, selectivity, congeniality, and other characteristics.'” 69 N.Y.2d 211, 222, 505 N.E.2d 915, 920-921 (1987) (quoting Roberts, supra,
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE BLACKMUN joins, concurring in the judgment.
Petitioner was sentenced to death by a jury that was permitted to express its views on punishment only by answering two questions: (1) Did petitioner murder the victim deliberately? and (2) Is there a probability that he will pose a continuing threat to society? We must decide whether this capital sentencing scheme unconstitutionally limited the jury’s ability to give mitigating effect to evidence of petitioner’s prison record or to “residual doubts” about his guilt.
The plurality concludes that the jury’s consideration of petitioner’s prison record and of its “residual doubts” about his guilt was not limited in this case, but nevertheless goes on to suggest that a State may constitutionally limit the ability of the sentencing authority to give effect to mitigating evidence relevant to a defendant’s character or background or to the circumstances of the offense that mitigates against the death penalty. Ante at 487 U. S. 179, 487 U. S. 180, n. 10. Unlike the plurality, I have doubts about a scheme that is limited in such a fashion. I write separately to express those doubts, and to explain my reasons for concurring in the judgment.
In Jurek v. Texas, 428 U. S. 262 (1976), this Court held that the Texas capital sentencing procedures satisfied the Eighth Amendment requirement that the sentencer be allowed to consider circumstances mitigating against capital punishment. The Court observed that, even
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE joins, dissenting.
A state statute cannot be considered ‘inconsistent’ with federal law merely because the statute causes the plaintiff to lose the litigation.
Robertson v. Wegmann, 436 U. S. 584, 436 U. S. 593 (1978). Disregarding this self-evident principle, the Court today holds that Wisconsin’s notice of claim statute is preempted by federal law as to actions under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 filed in state court. This holding is not supported by the statute whose preemptive force it purports to invoke, or by our precedents. Relying only on its own intuitions about “the goals of the federal civil rights laws,” ante at 487 U. S. 138, the Court fashions a new theory of preemption that unnecessarily and improperly suspends a perfectly valid state statute. This Court has said that “unenacted approvals, beliefs, and desires are not laws.” Puerto Rico Dept. of Consumer Affairs v. Isla Petroleum Corp., 485 U. S. 495, 485 U. S. 501 (1988). Today’s exercise departs not only from that unquestionable proposition, but even from the much more obvious principle that unexpressed approvals, beliefs, and desires are not laws.
Wisconsin’s notice of claim statute, which imposes a limited exhaustion of remedies requirement on those with claims against municipal governments and their officials, serves at least two important purposes apart from providing municipal defendants with a special affirmative defense in litigation. First, the statute helps ensure
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and JUSTICE SCALIA join, dissenting.
Petitioners seek to recover money damages under a section of the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) that authorizes claims against the Government for personal injuries
caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government while acting within the scope of his office or employment.
28 U.S.C. § 1346(b). That section is subject to an exception for any claim “arising out of” an assault or battery. 28 U.S.C. § 2680(h). Despite the unqualified language of this exception, the Court today holds that it does not protect the Government from liability for a battery committed by a Government employee who acted outside the scope of his employment if other Government employees had a duty to prevent the battery.
If we were to construe the words according to their ordinary meaning, we would say that a claim “arises out of” a battery in any case in which the battery is essential to the claim. Thus when the Court construed another exception to the FTCA for claims “arising in respect of… the detention of any goods” by customs or law enforcement officials, 28 U.S.C. § 2680(c), we equated “arising in respect of” with “arising out of,” and decided that the phrase includes “all injuries associated in any way with the detention’ of goods.” See Kosak v. United States, 465 U. S. 848, 465 U. S. 854 (1984). A parallel construction of the exception at issue here leads to the conclusion that
JUSTICE O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case requires us to decide whether the improper denial of Social Security disability benefits, allegedly resulting from violations of due process by government officials who administered the Federal Social Security program, may give rise to a cause of action for money damages against those officials. We conclude that such a remedy, not having been included in the elaborate remedial scheme devised by Congress, is unavailable.
I
A
Under Title II of the Social Security Act (Act), the Federal Government provides disability benefits to individuals who have contributed to the Social Security program and who, because of a medically determinable physical or mental impairment, are unable to engage in substantial gainful work. 42 U.S.C. §§ 423(a), (d) (1982 ed. and Supp. IV). A very similar program for disabled indigents is operated under Title XVI of the Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1381 et seq. (1982 ed. and Supp. IV), but those provisions are technically not at issue in this case. Title II, which is administered in conjunction with state welfare agencies, provides benefits only while an individual’s statutory disability persists. See 42 U.S.C. §§ 421(a), 423(a)(1) (1982 ed. and Supp. IV). In 1980, Congress noted that existing administrative procedures provided for reexamination of eligibility “only under a limited number of circumstances.” H.R.Conf.Rep. No. 96-944, p. 60 (1980); see also S.Rep. No. 96-408, pp. 60-61 (1979). Congress
JUSTICE O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
Appellants urge us to hold that the Equal Protection Clause forbids a State to allow some local school boards, but not others, to assess a fee for transporting pupils between their homes and the public schools. Applying well-established equal protection principles, we reject this claim and affirm the constitutionality of the challenged statute.
I
North Dakota is a sparsely populated State, with many people living on isolated farms and ranches. One result has been that some children, as late as the mid-20th century, were educated in
the one-room school where, in many cases, there [we]re twenty or more pupils with one teacher attempting in crowded conditions and under other disadvantages to give instructions in all primary grades.
Herman v. Medicine Lodge School Dist. No. 8, 71 N.W.2d 323, 328 (N.D.1955). The State has experimented with various ameliorative devices at different times in its history. Beginning in 1907, for example, it has adopted a series of policies that,
in certain circumstances required, and in other circumstances merely authorized, [local public] school districts to participate in transporting or providing compensation for transporting students to school.
402 N.W.2d 897, 900 (N.D.1987) (opinion below).
Since 1947, the legislature has authorized and encouraged thinly populated school districts to consolidate or “reorganize” themselves into larger districts so that education can be provided more
JUSTICE O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
Brookfield, Wisconsin, has adopted an ordinance that completely bans picketing “before or about” any residence. This case presents a facial First Amendment challenge to that ordinance.
I
Brookfield, Wisconsin, is a residential suburb of Milwaukee with a population of approximately 4,300. The appellees, Sandra C. Schultz and Robert C. Braun, are individuals strongly opposed to abortion, and wish to express their views on the subject by picketing on a public street outside the Brookfield residence of a doctor who apparently performs abortions at two clinics in neighboring towns. Appellees and others engaged in precisely that activity, assembling outside the doctor’s home on at least six occasions between April 20, 1985, and May 20, 1985, for periods ranging from one to one and a half hours. The size of the group varied from 11 to more than 40. The picketing was generally orderly and peaceful; the town never had occasion to invoke any of its various ordinances prohibiting obstruction of the streets, loud and unnecessary noises, or disorderly conduct. Nonetheless, the picketing generated substantial controversy and numerous complaints.
The Town Board therefore resolved to enact an ordinance to restrict the picketing. On May 7, 1985, the town passed an ordinance that prohibited all picketing in residential neighborhoods except for labor picketing. But after reviewing this Court’s decision in Carey v. Brown, 447 U. S. 455 (1980),
Justice O’CONNOR, delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II-A, II-B, and III, concluding that disparate impact analysis may be applied to a subjective or discretionary promotion system. Pp.487 U. S. 985-991,487 U. S. 999-1000.
(a) Each of this Court’s decisions applying disparate impact analysis -under which facially neutral employment practices, adopted without a deliberately discriminatory motive, may in operation be functionally equivalent to illegal intentional discrimination -involved standardized tests or criteria, such as written aptitude tests or high school diploma requirements, see, e.g., Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U. S. 424, and the Court has consistently used disparate treatment theory, in which proof of intent to discriminate is required, to review hiring or promotion decisions that were based on the exercise of personal judgment or the application of subjective criteria, see, e.g., McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U. S. 792. Until today, the Court has never addressed the question whether disparate impact analysis may be applied to subjective employment criteria. Pp. 487 U. S. 985 -989.
(b) The reasons supporting the use of disparate impact analysis apply to subjective employment practices. That analysis might effectively be abolished if it were confined to objective, standardized selection practices, since an employer could insulate itself from liability under Griggs and its progeny simply by combining such practices with a subjective
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, concurring in the judgment.
The plurality and dissent agree on two fundamental propositions: that there is some age below which a juvenile’s crimes can never be constitutionally punished by death, and that our precedents require us to locate this age in light of the ” evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.'” See ante at 487 U. S. 821 (quoting Trop v. Dulles, 356 U. S. 86, 356 U. S. 101 (1958) (opinion of Warren, C.J.)); ante at 487 U. S. 827 -829; post at 487 U. S. 864 -865, 487 U. S. 872. See also e.g., McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U. S. 279, 481 U. S. 300 (1987). I accept both principles. The disagreements between the plurality and the dissent rest on their different evaluations of the evidence available to us about the relevant social consensus. Although I believe that a national consensus forbidding the execution of any person for a crime committed before the age of 16 very likely does exist, I am reluctant to adopt this conclusion as a matter of constitutional law without better evidence than we now possess. Because I conclude that the sentence in this case can and should be set aside on narrower grounds than those adopted by the plurality, and because the grounds on which I rest should allow us to face the more general question when better evidence is available, I concur only in the judgment of the Court.
I
Both the plurality and the dissent look initially to the decisions of American legislatures for signs of a national
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, concurring.
This case raises somewhat unusual questions involving a facially valid statute that appears to have been administered in a way that led to violations of the Establishment Clause. I agree with the Court’s resolution of those questions, and I join its opinion. I write separately, however, to explain why I do not believe that the Court’s approach reflects any tolerance for the kind of improper administration that seems to have occurred in the Government program at issue here.
The dissent says, and I fully agree, that “[p]ublic funds may not be used to advance the religious message.” Post at 487 U. S. 642. As the Court notes, “there is no dispute that the record contains evidence of specific incidents of impermissible behavior by AFLA grantees.” Ante at 487 U. S. 620. Because the District Court employed an analytical framework that did not require a detailed discussion of the voluminous record, the extent of this impermissible behavior and the degree to which it is attributable to poor administration by the Executive Branch is somewhat less clear. In this circumstance, two points deserve to be emphasized. First, any use of public funds to promote religious doctrines violates the Establishment Clause. Second, extensive violations -if they can be proved in this case -will be highly relevant in shaping an appropriate remedy that ends such abuses. For that reason, appellees may yet prevail on remand, and I do not believe that the Court’s approach entails
JUSTICE O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case concerns the scope of two criminal statutes enacted by Congress to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment. Title 18 U.S.C. § 241 prohibits conspiracy to interfere with an individual’s Thirteenth Amendment right to be free from “involuntary servitude.” Title 18 U.S.C. § 1584 makes it a crime knowingly and willfully to hold another person “to involuntary servitude.” We must determine the meaning of “involuntary servitude” under these two statutes.
I
In 1983, two mentally retarded men were found laboring on a Chelsea, Michigan, dairy farm in poor health, in squalid conditions, and in relative isolation from the rest of society. The operators of the farm -Ike Kozminski, his wife Margarethe, and their son John -were charged with violating 18 U.S.C. § 241 by conspiring to “injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate” the two men in the free exercise and enjoyment of their federal right to be free from involuntary servitude. The Kozminskis were also charged with knowingly holding, or aiding and abetting in the holding of, the two men to involuntary servitude in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1584 and § 2. [ Footnote 1 ] The case was tried before a jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The Government’s evidence is summarized below.
The victims, Robert Fulmer and Louis Molitoris, have intelligence quotients of 67 and 60 respectively. Though chronologically in their 60’s during the period in question,
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE WHITE joins, concurring.
I agree with the Court that appellant’s rights under the Confrontation Clause were violated in this case. I write separately only to note my view that those rights are not absolute, but rather may give way in an appropriate case to other competing interests so as to permit the use of certain procedural devices designed to shield a child witness from the trauma of courtroom testimony.
Child abuse is a problem of disturbing proportions in today’s society. Just last Term, we recognized that
[c]hild abuse is one of the most difficult problems to detect and prosecute, in large part because there often are no witnesses except the victim.
Pennsylvania v. Ritchie, 480 U. S. 39, 480 U. S. 60 (1987). Once an instance of abuse is identified and prosecution undertaken, new difficulties arise. Many States have determined that a child victim may suffer trauma from exposure to the harsh atmosphere of the typical courtroom, and have undertaken to shield the child through a variety of ameliorative measures. We deal today with the constitutional ramifications of only one such measure, but we do so against a broader backdrop. Iowa appears to be the only State authorizing the type of screen used in this case. See generally App. to Brief for American Bar Association as Amicus Curiae 1a-9a (collecting statutes). A full half of the States, however, have authorized the use of oneor twoway closed-circuit television. Statutes sanctioning
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, concurring.
I join the Court’s opinion. I write separately to emphasize that nothing in the Court’s opinion forecloses the possibility that a mere technical violation of Anders v. California, 386 U. S. 738 (1967), might be excusable. The violation in this case was not a mere technical violation, however, and, on that understanding, I concur.
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
I agree that the Illinois Telecommunications Excise Tax Act does not violate the Commerce Clause, and join Parts I, II-A, II-D, and III of the Court’s opinion. I write separately to explain why I do not join Parts II-B and II-C. First, I am still unsure of the need and authority for applying the internal consistency test to state taxes challenged under the Commerce Clause. See American Trucking Assns., Inc. v. Scheiner, 483 U. S. 266, 483 U. S. 303 (1987) (O’CONNOR, J., dissenting). I therefore do not join in the Court’s application of that test to the Tax Act. Ante at 488 U. S. 261. Second, I agree with JUSTICE STEVENS that a State may not discriminate among its own residents by placing a heavier tax on those who engage in interstate commerce than those who merely engage in local commerce. Ante at 488 U. S. 268 (STEVENS, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment). Accordingly, I cannot join the Court’s statement that “[i]t is not a purpose of the Commerce Clause to protect state residents from their own state taxes.” Ante at 488 U. S. 266.
Justice O’CONNOR announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, III-B, and IV, an opinion with respect to Part II, in which THE CHIEF JUSTICE and Justice WHITE join, and an opinion with respect to Parts III-A and V, in which THE CHIEF JUSTICE, Justice WHITE, and Justice KENNEDY join.
In this case, we confront once again the tension between the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal treatment to all citizens, and the use of race-based measures to ameliorate the effects of past discrimination on the opportunities enjoyed by members of minority groups in our society. In Fullilove v. Klutznick, 448 U.S. 448, 100 S.Ct. 2758, 65 L.Ed.2d 902 (1980), we held that a congressional program requiring that 10% of certain federal construction grants be awarded to minority contractors did not violate the equal protection principles embodied in the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Relying largely on our decision in Fullilove, some lower federal courts have applied a similar standard of review in assessing the constitutionality of state and local minority set-aside provisions under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. See, e.g. South Florida Chapter, Associated General Contractors of America, Inc. v. Metropolitan Dade County, 723 F.2d 846 (CA11), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 871, 105 S.Ct. 220, 83 L.Ed.2d 150 (1984); Ohio Contractors Assn. v. Keip, 713 F.2d 167 (CA6 1983). Since our decision two Terms ago in Wygant
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, concurring in the judgment.
I concur in the judgment reversing the Supreme Court of Florida because I agree that police observation of the greenhouse in Riley’s curtilage from a helicopter passing at an altitude of 400 feet did not violate an expectation of privacy “that society is prepared to recognize as reasonable.'” Katz v. United States, 389 U. S. 347, 389 U. S. 361 (1967) (Harlan, J., concurring). I write separately, however, to clarify the standard I believe follows from California v. Ciraolo, 476 U. S. 207 (1986). In my view, the plurality’s approach rests the scope of Fourth Amendment protection too heavily on compliance with FAA regulations whose purpose is to promote air safety, not to protect “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” U.S.Const., Amdt. 4.
Ciraolo involved observation of curtilage by officers flying in an airplane at an altitude of 1,000 feet. In evaluating whether this observation constituted a search for which a warrant was required, we acknowledged the importance of curtilage in Fourth Amendment doctrine:
The protection afforded the curtilage is essentially a protection of families and personal privacy in an area intimately linked to the home, both physically and psychologically, where privacy expectations are most heightened.
476 U.S. at 476 U. S. 212 -213. Although the curtilage is an area to which the private activities of the home
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, Circuit Justice.
The State of California requests that, as Circuit Justice, I stay the enforcement of the judgment of the Supreme Court of California pursuant to 28 U. S. C. § 2101(f) pending the disposition of a petition for certiorari (No. 88-1054) to review that judgment. Because I think it unlikely that four Justices would vote to grant certiorari, see Hicks v. Feiock, 479 U. S. 1305, 1306 (1986) (O’CONNOR, J., in chambers), I deny the application for issuance of a stay.
In its petition for certiorari, California seeks review of the State Supreme Court’s judgment reversing the conviction of respondent Freeman for pandering under Cal. Penal Code Ann. §266i (West 1988). 46 Cal. 3d 419, 758 P. 2d 1128 (1988). Freeman is a producer and director of pornographic films who hired and paid adults to perform sexual acts before his film cameras. In 1983, Freeman was arrested and charged with five counts of pandering based on the hiring of five such performers. He was not charged with violation of any of California’s obscenity laws. Freeman was tried before a jury and convicted on all five counts of pandering; the State Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment of conviction. 198 Cal. App. 3d 292, 233 Cal. Rptr. 510 (1987).
On discretionary review, the California Supreme Court first considered the relevant statutory language of the State Penal Code. In relevant part, § 266i of the Penal Code provides that a person is guilty of felonious pandering if that person “procure[s]
JUSTICE O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
We decide today whether United States Postal Service employees may, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1), remove to Federal District Court state criminal prosecutions brought against them for traffic violations committed while on duty.
I
In the summer of 1985, petitioners Kathryn Mesa and Shabbir Ebrahim were employed as mail truck drivers by the United States Postal Service in Santa Clara County, California. In unrelated incidents, the State of California issued criminal complaints against petitioners, charging Mesa with misdemeanor-manslaughter and driving outside a laned roadway after her mail truck collided with and killed a bicyclist, and charging Ebrahim with speeding and failure to yield after his mail truck collided with a police car. Mesa and Ebrahim were arraigned in the San Jose Municipal Court of Santa Clara County on September 16 and October 2, 1985, respectively. The Municipal Court set a pretrial conference in Mesa’s case for November 4, 1985, and set trial for Ebrahim on November 7, 1985.
On September 24 and October 4, 1985, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California filed petitions in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California for removal to that court of the criminal complaints brought against Ebrahim and Mesa. The petitions alleged that the complaints should properly be removed to the Federal District Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1) because
JUSTICE O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case presents two questions concerning the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 88 Stat. 829, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq. First, we address the appropriate standard of judicial review of benefit determinations by fiduciaries or plan administrators under ERISA. Second, we determine which persons are “participants” entitled to obtain information about benefit plans covered by ERISA.
I
Late in 1980, petitioner Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (Firestone) sold, as going concerns, the five plants composing its Plastics Division to Occidental Petroleum Company (Occidental). Most of the approximately 500 salaried employees at the five plants were rehired by Occidental and continued in their same positions without interruption and at the same rates of pay. At the time of the sale, Firestone maintained three pension and welfare benefit plans for its employees: a termination pay plan, a retirement plan, and a stock purchase plan. Firestone was the sole source of funding for the plans, and had not established separate trust funds out of which to pay the benefits from the plans. All three of the plans were either “employee welfare benefit plans” or “employee pension benefit plans” governed (albeit in different ways) by ERISA. By operation of law, Firestone itself was the administrator, 29 U.S.C. § 1002(16)(A)(ii), and fiduciary, § 1002(21)(A), of each of these “unfunded” plans. At the time of the sale
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
Because I believe that this Court does not have jurisdiction to hear the petition in Sappenfield v. Indiana, No. 87-614, I dissent from the Court’s disposition of that case. I concur in the Court’s disposition of Fort Wayne Books, Inc. v. Indiana, No. 87-470, which presents, among others, the same question as presented in Sappenfield.
Petitioners Sappenfield and his bookstore corporations, Fantasy One, Inc., and Fantasy Two, Inc., have yet to be tried or convicted on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) counts brought against them by the State of Indiana. Petitioners’ motion to dismiss the RICO counts and the State’s subsequent appeal were, therefore, interlocutory. Except in limited circumstances, this Court has jurisdiction only to review final judgments rendered by the highest court of the State in which decision may be had. 28 U.S.C. § 1257. See Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U. S. 469 (1975). As we observed in Flynt v. Ohio, 451 U. S. 619, 451 U. S. 620 (1981) (per curiam), a case involving violations of Ohio’s obscenity statute, “[a]pplied in the context of a criminal prosecution, finality is normally defined by the imposition of the sentence.” Neither a finding of guilt nor imposition of sentence has yet occurred in Sappenfield. As in Flynt, were we to assume jurisdiction over Sappenfield, there would be some
probability of piecemeal review with respect to federal issues [because]
JUSTICE O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
We must decide today what limits the operation of the federal patent system places on the States’ ability to offer substantial protection to utilitarian and design ideas which the patent laws leave otherwise unprotected. In Interpart Corp. v. Italia, 777 F.2d 678 (1985), the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concluded that a California law prohibiting the use of the “direct molding process” to duplicate unpatented articles posed no threat to the policies behind the federal patent laws. In this case, the Florida Supreme Court came to a contrary conclusion. It struck down a Florida statute which prohibits the use of the direct molding process to duplicate unpatented boat hulls, finding that the protection offered by the Florida law conflicted with the balance struck by Congress in the federal patent statute between the encouragement of invention and free competition in unpatented ideas. See 515 So.2d 220 (1987). We granted certiorari to resolve the conflict, 486 U.S. 1004 (1988), and we now affirm the judgment of the Florida Supreme Court.
I
In September, 1976, petitioner Bonito Boats, Inc. (Bonito), a Florida corporation, developed a hull design for a fiberglass recreational boat which it marketed under the trade name Bonito Boat Model 5VBR. App. 5. Designing the boat hull required substantial effort on the part of Bonito. A set of engineering drawings was prepared, from which a hardwood model was created. The hardwood
JUSTICE O’CONNOR announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II, and III, and an opinion with respect to Parts IV and V, in which THE CHIEF JUSTICE, JUSTICE SCALIA, and JUSTICE KENNEDY join.
In Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U. S. 522 (1975), this Court held that the Sixth Amendment required that the jury venire be drawn from a fair cross-section of the community. The Court stated, however, that,
in holding that petit juries must be drawn from a source fairly representative of the community, we impose no requirement that petit juries actually chosen must mirror the community and reflect the various distinctive groups in the population. Defendants are not entitled to a jury of any particular composition.
Id. at 419 U. S. 538. The principal question presented in this case is whether the Sixth Amendment’s fair cross-section requirement should now be extended to the petit jury. Because we adopt Justice Harlan’s approach to retroactivity for cases on collateral review, we leave the resolution of that question for another day.
I
Petitioner, a black man, was convicted by an all-white Illinois jury of three counts of attempted murder, two counts of armed robbery, and one count of aggravated battery. During jury selection for petitioner’s trial, the prosecutor used all 10 of his peremptory challenges to exclude blacks. Petitioner’s counsel used one of his 10 peremptory challenges to exclude a black woman who was married to a police
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and JUSTICE SCALIA join, concurring.
I join the Court’s opinion, and am in general agreement with its decision to apply the “plain statement” rule of Michigan v. Long, 463 U. S. 1032 (1983), to the state courts’ invocation of state procedural default rules. I write separately to emphasize two points. First, I do not read the Court’s opinion as addressing or altering the well-settled rule that the lower federal courts, and this Court, may properly inquire into the availability of state remedies in determining whether claims presented in a petition for federal habeas corpus have been properly exhausted in the state courts. See Humphrey v. Cady, 405 U. S. 504, 405 U. S. 515 -517 (1972); Ex parte Hawk, 321 U. S. 114, 321 U. S. 118 (1944).
In 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b), Congress has provided that a writ of habeas corpus
shall not be granted unless it appears that the applicant has exhausted the remedies available in the courts of the State, or that there is either an absence of available State corrective processes or the existence of circumstances rendering such process ineffective to protect the rights of the prisoner.
The exhaustion requirement is not satisfied if the habeas petitioner “has the right under the law of the State to raise, by any available procedure, the question presented.” § 2254(c). Thus, in determining whether a remedy for a particular constitutional claim is “available,” the federal courts are authorized, indeed required,
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE BRENNAN, JUSTICE MARSHALL, and JUSTICE STEVENS join, dissenting.
The Court’s decision is based on two distinct lines of argument. First, the Court concludes that the language of § 506(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, 11 U.S.C. § 506(b), is clear and unambiguous. Second, the Court takes a very narrow view of Midlantic National Bank v. New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection, 474 U. S. 494 (1986), and its progeny. I disagree with both aspects of the Court’s opinion, and with the conclusion to which they lead.
The relevant portion of § 506(b) provides that
there shall be allowed to the holder of [an oversecured] claim, interest on such claim, and any reasonable fees, costs, or charges provided for under the agreement under which such claim arose.
The Court concludes that the only natural reading of § 506(b) is that recovery of post-petition interest is “unqualified.” Ante at 241. As Justice Frankfurter remarked some time ago, however, “[t]he notion that, because the words of a statute are plain, its meaning is also plain, is merely pernicious oversimplification.” United States v. Monia, 317 U. S. 424, 317 U. S. 431 (1943) (dissenting opinion).
Although “the use of the comma is exceedingly arbitrary and indefinite,” United States v. Palmer, 3 Wheat. 610, 16 U. S. 638 (1818) (separate opinion of Johnson, J.), the Court is able to read § 506(b) the way that it does only because of the comma following the phrase “interest on such claim.” Without