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, with whom JUSTICE KENNEDY joins, concurring in part.
I concur in all but footnote 6 of JUSTICE SCALIA’s opinion This footnote sketches a mode of historical analysis to be used when identifying liberty interests protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment that may be somewhat inconsistent with our past decisions in this area. See Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U. S. 479 (1965); Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U. S. 438 (1972). On occasion, the Court has characterized relevant traditions protecting asserted rights at levels of generality that might not be “the most specific level” available. Ante at 491 U. S. 127 -128, n. 6. See Loving v. Virginia, 388 U. S. 1, 12 (1967); Turner v. Safley, 482 U. S. 78, 94 (1987); cf. United States v. Stanley, 483 U. S. 669, 709 (1987) (O’CONNOR, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). I would not foreclose the unanticipated by the prior imposition of a single mode of historical analysis. Poe v. Ullman, 367 U. S. 497, 367 U. S. 542, 367 U. S. 544 (1961) (Harlan, J., dissenting).
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, dissenting.
I agree with JUSTICE SCALIA that a faithful interpretation of the Eleventh Amendment embodies a concept of state sovereignty which limits the power of Congress to abrogate States’ immunity when acting pursuant to the Commerce Clause. But that view does not command a majority of the Court, thus necessitating an inquiry as to whether Congress intended in CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. § 9601 et seq., and SARA, Pub.L. 99-499, 100 Stat. 1613, to abrogate the States’ Eleventh Amendment immunity. On that question, I join Part I of JUSTICE WHITE’s opinion. I also join Parts II, III, and IV of JUSTICE SCALIA’s opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part.
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE SCALIA joins, and with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE joins in part, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I agree with the Court that 42 U.S.C. § 1988 allows compensation for the work of paralegals and law clerks at market rates, and therefore join Parts I and III of its opinion. I do not join Part II, however, for in my view the Eleventh Amendment does not permit enhancement of attorney’s fees assessed against a State as compensation for delay in payment.
The Eleventh Amendment does not, of course, provide a State with across-the-board immunity from all monetary relief. Relief that
serves directly to bring an end to a violation of federal law is not barred by the Eleventh Amendment, even though accompanied by a substantial ancillary effect
on a State’s treasury. Papasan v. Allain, 478 U. S. 265, 478 U. S. 278 (1986). Thus, in Milliken v. Bradley, 433 U. S. 267, 433 U. S. 289 -290 (1977), the Court unanimously upheld a decision ordering a State to pay over $5 million to eliminate the effects of de jure segregation in certain school systems. On the other hand, “[r]elief that in essence serves to compensate a party injured in the past,” such as relief “expressly denominated as damages,” or “relief [that] is tantamount to an award of damages for a past violation of federal law, even though styled as something else,” is prohibited by the Eleventh Amendment. Papasan, supra, at 478 U. S. 278. The crucial question in this case is whether that
JUSTICE O’CONNOR announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion, in which THE CHIEF JUSTICE, JUSTICE WHITE, and JUSTICE KENNEDY join.
This case involves an overbreadth challenge to a Massachusetts criminal statute generally prohibiting adults from posing or exhibiting nude minors for purposes of visual representation or reproduction in any book, magazine, pamphlet, motion picture, photograph, or picture.
I
The statute at issue in this case, Mass.Gen.Laws § 272:29A (1986), was enacted in 1982. [ Footnote 1 ] It provides as follows:
Whoever with knowledge that a person is a child under eighteen years of age, or whoever while in possession of such facts that he should have reason to know that such person is a child under eighteen years of age, hires, coerces, solicits or entices, employs, procures, uses, causes, encourages, or knowingly permits such child to pose or be exhibited in a state of nudity or to participate or engage in any live performance or in any act that depicts, describes or represents sexual conduct for purpose of visual representation or reproduction in any book, magazine, pamphlet, motion picture film, photograph, or picture shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a term of not less than ten nor more than twenty years, or by a fine of not less than ten thousand dollars nor more than fifty thousand dollars, or by both such a fine and imprisonment. It shall be a defense in any prosecution pursuant to this section that such visual
JUSTICE O’CONNOR announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, III, and IV, and an opinion with respect to Part II, in which THE CHIEF JUSTICE, JUSTICE WHITE, and JUSTICE KENNEDY join.
The questions before us in these cases are whether 42 U.S.C. § 1981 provides an independent federal cause of action for damages against local governmental entities, and whether that cause of action is broader than the damages remedy available under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, such that a municipality may be held liable for its employees’ violations of § 1981 under a theory of respondeat superior.
I
Petitioner Norman Jett, a white male, was employed by respondent Dallas Independent School District (DISD) as a teacher, athletic director, and head football coach at South Oak Cliff High School (South Oak) until his reassignment to another DISD school in 1983. Petitioner was hired by the DISD in 1957, was assigned to assistant coaching duties at South Oak in 1962, and was promoted to athletic director and head football coach of South Oak in 1970. During petitioner’s lengthy tenure at South Oak, the racial composition of the school changed from predominantly white to predominantly black. In 1975, the DISD assigned Dr. Fredrick Todd, a black, as principal of South Oak. Petitioner and Todd clashed repeatedly over school policies, and in particular over petitioner’s handling of the school’s football program. These conflicts came to a head following a November
JUSTICE O’CONNOR concurring.
I join in THE CHIEF JUSTICE’S opinion. As his opinion demonstrates, there is nothing in the Constitution or the precedents of this Court that requires that a State provide counsel in postconviction proceedings. A postconviction proceeding is not part of the criminal process itself, but is instead a civil action designed to overturn a presumptively valid criminal judgment. Nothing in the Constitution requires the States to provide such proceedings, see Pennsylvania v. Finley, 481 U. S. 551 (1987), nor does it seem to me that the Constitution requires the States to follow any particular federal model in those proceedings. I also join in JUSTICE KENNEDY’S opinion concurring in the judgment, since I do not view it as inconsistent with the principles expressed above. As JUSTICE KENNEDY observes, our decision in Bounds v. Smith, 430 U. S. 817 (1977), allows the States considerable discretion in assuring that those imprisoned in their jails obtain meaningful access to the judicial process. Beyond the requirements of Bounds, the matter is one of legislative choice based on difficult policy considerations and the allocation of scarce legal resources. Our decision today rightly leaves these issues to resolution by Congress and the state legislatures.
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, concurring.
Although I agree with JUSTICE SCALIA that Congress may not abrogate the States’ Eleventh Amendment immunity by enacting a statute under the Bankruptcy Clause, a majority of the Court addresses instead the question whether Congress expressed a clear intention to abrogate the States’ Eleventh Amendment immunity. On the latter question, I agree with JUSTICE WHITE, and join the plurality’s opinion.
JUSTICE O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court, except as to Part IV-C.
In this case, we must decide whether petitioner, Johnny Paul Penry, was sentenced to death in violation of the Eighth Amendment because the jury was not instructed that it could consider and give effect to his mitigating evidence in imposing its sentence. We must also decide whether the Eighth Amendment categorically prohibits Penry’s execution because he is mentally retarded.
I
On the morning of October 25, 1979, Pamela Carpenter was brutally raped, beaten, and stabbed with a pair of scissors in her home in Livingston, Texas. She died a few hours later in the course of emergency treatment. Before she died, she described her assailant. Her description led two local sheriff’s deputies to suspect Penry, who had recently been released on parole after conviction on another rape charge. Penry subsequently gave two statements confessing to the crime, and was charged with capital murder.
At a competency hearing held before trial, a clinical psychologist, Dr. Jerome Brown, testified that Penry was mentally retarded. As a child, Penry was diagnosed as having organic brain damage, which was probably caused by trauma to the brain at birth. App. 34-35. Penry was tested over the years as having an IQ between 50 and 63, which indicates mild to moderate retardation. [ Footnote 1 ] Id. at 36-38, 55. Dr. Brown’s own testing before the trial indicated that Penry had an IQ of 54. Dr. Brown’s evaluation also revealed
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE STEVENS joins, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
Awards of punitive damages are skyrocketing. As recently as a decade ago, the largest award of punitive damages affirmed by an appellate court in a products liability case was $250,000. See Owen, Punitive Damages in Products Liability Litigation, 74 Mich.L.Rev. 1257, 1329-1332 (1976). Since then, awards more than 30 times as high have been sustained on appeal. See Ford Motor Co. v. Durrill, 714 S. W. 2d 329 (Tex. App. 1986) ($10 million); Ford Motor Co. v. Stubblefeld, 171 Ga. App. 331, 319 S. E. 2d 470 (1984) ($8 million); Palmer v. A. H. Robins Co., 684 P. 2d 187 (Colo. 1984) ($6.2 million). The threat of such enormous awards has a detrimental effect on the research and development of new products. Some manufacturers of prescription drugs, for example, have decided that it is better to avoid uncertain liability than to introduce a new pill or vaccine into the market. See, e.g., Brief for Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association et. al. as Amici Curiae 5-23. Similarly, designers of airplanes and motor vehicles have been forced to abandon new projects for fear of lawsuits that can often lead to awards of punitive damages. See generally P. Huber, Liability: The Legal Revolution and Its Consequences 152-171 (1988).
The trend toward multimillion dollar awards of punitive damages is exemplified by this case. A Vermont jury found that Browning-Ferris Industries, Inc. (BFI), tried to monopolize
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
Last Term, in Thompson v. Oklahoma, 487 U. S. 815, 487 U. S. 857 -858 (1988) (opinion concurring in judgment), I expressed the view that a criminal defendant who would have been tried as a juvenile under state law, but for the granting of a petition waiving juvenile court jurisdiction, may only be executed for a capital offense if the State’s capital punishment statute specifies a minimum age at which the commission of a capital crime can lead to an offender’s execution and the defendant had reached that minimum age at the time the crime was committed. As a threshold matter, I indicated that such specificity is not necessary to avoid constitutional problems if it is clear that no national consensus forbids the imposition of capital punishment for crimes committed at such an age. Id. at 487 U. S. 857. Applying this two-part standard in Thompson, I concluded that Oklahoma’s imposition of a death sentence on an individual who was 15 years old at the time he committed a capital offense should be set aside. Applying the same standard today, I conclude that the death sentences for capital murder imposed by Missouri and Kentucky on petitioners Wilkins and Stanford respectively should not be set aside, because it is sufficiently clear that no national consensus forbids the imposition of capital punishment on 16or 17-year-old capital murderers.
In Thompson, I noted that
[t]he most salient statistic that bears on this
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE SCALIA joins, concurring.
I concur in THE CHIEF JUSTICE’s opinion for the Court. I write separately to address an alternative ground for decision in this case which was raised, but not relied upon, by the District Court. In my view, the rationale of our decision in Stone v. Powell, 428 U. S. 465 (1976), dictates that the suppression remedy be unavailable to respondent on federal habeas.
Over seven years ago, respondent stabbed a woman nine times after she refused to have sexual relations with him. Claiming that he had innocently discovered the body, respondent led Chicago police to the woman, who, upon seeing respondent, immediately identified him as her assailant. Respondent was twice informed of his rights and questioned by detectives. The first time, he gave an exculpatory statement indicating that he had been attacked by the same persons who had assaulted the victim. In the second interview, respondent confessed to the stabbing. He then led police to the knife he had used and to several items of his clothing which were found near the scene of the assault. Respondent sought suppression of both his statements and the knife and clothing on the ground that the warnings he was given were inadequate under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436 (1966). After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied the motion to suppress. The evidence was admitted at trial, and respondent was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 35 years’ imprisonment.
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
I concur in Parts I, II-A, II-B, and II-C of the Court’s opinion.
I
Nothing in the record before us or the opinions below indicates that subsections 1(1) and 1(2) of the preamble to Missouri’s abortion regulation statute will affect a woman’s decision to have an abortion. JUSTICE STEVENS, following appellees, see Brief for Appellees 22, suggests that the preamble may also “interfer[e] with contraceptive choices,” post at 492 U. S. 564, because certain contraceptive devices act on a female ovum after it has been fertilized by a male sperm. The Missouri Act defines “conception” as “the fertilization of the ovum of a female by a sperm of a male,” Mo.Rev.Stat. § 188.015(3) (1986), and invests “unborn children” with “protectable interests in life, health, and wellbeing,” § 1.205.1(2), from “the moment of conception…. ” § 1.205.3. JUSTICE STEVENS asserts that any possible interference with a woman’s right to use such postfertilization contraceptive devices would be unconstitutional under Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U. S. 479 (1965), and our subsequent contraception cases. Post at 492 U. S. 564 -566. Similarly, certain amici suggest that the Missouri Act’s preamble may prohibit the developing technology of in vitro fertilization, a technique used to aid couples otherwise unable to bear children in which a number of ova are removed from the woman and fertilized by male sperm. This process often produces excess
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE BRENNAN and JUSTICE STEVENS join as to Part II, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
I
Judicial review of government action under the Establishment Clause is a delicate task. The Court has avoided drawing lines which entirely sweep away all government recognition and acknowledgment of the role of religion in the lives of our citizens, for to do so would exhibit not neutrality, but hostility, to religion. Instead, the courts have made case-specific examinations of the challenged government action and have attempted to do so with the aid of the standards described by JUSTICE BLACKMUN in Part III-A of the Court’s opinion. Ante at 492 U. S. 590 -594. Unfortunately, even the development of articulable standards and guidelines has not always resulted in agreement among the Members of this Court on the results in individual cases. And so it is again today.
The constitutionality of the two displays at issue in these cases turns on how we interpret and apply the holding in Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U. S. 668 (1984), in which we rejected an Establishment Clause challenge to the city of Pawtucket’s inclusion of a creche in its annual Christmas holiday display. The seasonal display reviewed in Lynch was located in a privately owned park in the heart of the shopping district. Id. at 465 U. S. 671. In addition to the creche, the display included
a Santa Claus house, reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh, candy-striped poles, a Christmas tree, carolers,
Justice O’CONNOR, Circuit Justice.
Applicant, the State of California, requests a stay of the mandate of the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, pending disposition of its petition for a writ of certiorari.
Applicant, through its attorney general on behalf of himself and as parens patriae, brought the underlying action as a private plaintiff to enjoin the merger of respondent Lucky Stores, Inc., the largest retail grocery chain in California, and respondent American Stores Company, operator of Alpha Beta, the fourth largest retail grocery chain in California.* Applicant contends that the merger would substantially lessen competition in the relevant markets, in violation of § 7 of the Clayton Act, 38 Stat. 731, as amended, 15 U.S.C. 18, § 1 of the Sherman Act, 26 Stat. 209, as amended, 15 U.S.C. 1, and California’s Cartwright Antitrust and Unfair Competition Acts, Cal.Bus. & Prof.Code §§ 16700-16761 and 17200-17208 (West 1987 and Supp.1989).
The District Court granted applicant’s motion for a preliminary injunction and ordered respondents to operate the two companies independently and refrain from merging or integrating their assets and businesses during the pendency of the action. 697 F.Supp. 1125 (CD Cal.1988). The court concluded:
“The overwhelming statistical evidence has demonstrated a strong probability that the proposed merger will substantially lessen competition in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act. This showing has not been
JUSTICE O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
The citizen suit provision of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA), 90 Stat. 2825, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 6972 (1982 ed. and Supp. V), permits individuals to commence an action in district court to enforce waste disposal regulations promulgated under the Act. At least 60 days before commencing suit, plaintiffs must notify the alleged violator, the State, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of their intent to sue. 42 U.S.C. § 6972(b)(1). This 60-day notice provision was modeled upon § 304 of the Clean Air Amendments of 1970, 84 Stat. 1706, as amended, 42 U.S.C.§ 7604(1982 ed.). Since 1970, a number of other federal statutes have incorporated notice provisions patterned after § 304. [ Footnote 1 ] In this case, we must decide whether compliance with the 60-day notice provision is a mandatory precondition to suit, or can be disregarded by the district court at its discretion.
I
Petitioners own a commercial dairy farm located next to respondent’s sanitary landfill. In April, 1981, believing that the landfill operation violated standards established under RCRA, petitioners sent respondent written notice of their intention to file suit. A year later, petitioners commenced this action. On March 1, 1983, respondent moved for summary judgment on the ground that petitioners had failed to notify Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the EPA of their intent to sue, as required by § 6972(b)(1).
Justice O’CONNOR announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, III, and IV, and an opinion with respect to Part II, in which Justice STEVENS and Justice KENNEDY join.
These cases call upon us to decide whether a licensing scheme in a comprehensive city ordinance regulating sexually oriented businesses is a prior restraint that fails to provide adequate procedural safeguards as required by Freedman v. Maryland, 380 U. S. 51 (1965). We must also decide whether any petitioner has standing to address the ordinance’s civil disability provisions, whether the city has sufficiently justified its requirement that motels renting rooms for less than 10 hours be covered by the ordinance, and whether the ordinance impermissibly infringes on the right to freedom of association. As this litigation comes to us, no issue is presented with respect to whether the books, videos, materials, or entertainment available through sexually oriented businesses are obscene pornographic materials.
I
On June 18, 1986, the city council of the city of Dallas unanimously adopted an ordinance regulating sexually oriented businesses, which was aimed at eradicating the secondary effects of crime and urban blight. The ordinance defines a “sexually oriented business,” as
an adult arcade, adult bookstore or adult video store, adult cabaret, adult motel, adult motion picture theater, adult theater, escort agency, nude model studio, or sexual encounter center.
Dalla
Justice O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case presents the question whether the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment prohibit a State from imposing a generally applicable sales and use tax on the distribution of religious materials by a religious organization.
I
California’s Sales and Use Tax Law requires retailers to pay a sales tax “[f]or the privilege of selling tangible personal property at retail.” Cal.Rev. & Tax.Code Ann. § 6051 (West 1987). A “sale” includes any transfer of title or possession of tangible personal property for consideration. Cal.Rev. & Tax.Code Ann. § 6006(a) (West Supp.1989).
The use tax, as a complement to the sales tax, reaches out-of-state purchases by residents of the State. It is “imposed on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from any retailer,” § 6201, at the same rate as the sales tax (6 percent). Although the use tax is imposed on the purchaser, § 6202, it is generally collected by the retailer at the time the sale is made. §§ 6202-6206. Neither the State Constitution nor the State Sales and Use Tax Law exempts religious organizations from the sales and use tax, apart from a limited exemption for the serving of meals by religious organizations, § 6363.5.
During the tax period in question (1974 to 1981), appellant Jimmy Swaggart Ministries was a religious organization incorporated as a Louisiana nonprofit corporation and recognized as such by the Internal Revenue
Justice O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case requires us to decide whether state courts have concurrent jurisdiction over civil actions brought under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), Pub.L. 91-452, Title IX, 84 Stat. 941, as amended, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-1968.
I
The underlying litigation arises from the failure of Old Court Savings & Loan, Inc. (Old Court), a Maryland savings and loan association, and the attendant collapse of the Maryland Savings-Share Insurance Corp. (MSSIC), a state-chartered nonprofit corporation created to insure accounts in Maryland savings and loan associations that were not federally insured. See Brandenburg v. Seidel, 859 F.2d 1179, 1181-1183 (CA4 1988) (reviewing history of Maryland’s savings and loan crisis). Petitioners are nonresidents of Maryland who hold unpaid certificates of deposit issued by Old Court. Respondents are the former officers and directors of Old Court, the former officers and directors of MSSIC, the law firm of Old Court and MSSIC, the accounting firm of Old Court, and the State of Maryland Deposit Insurance Fund Corp., the state-created successor to MSSIC. Petitioners allege various state law causes of action as well as claims under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act), 48 Stat. 881, 15 U.S.C. § 78a et seq., and RICO.
The District Court granted respondents’ motions to dismiss, concluding that petitioners had failed to state a claim under the Exchange Act and that, because
Justice O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
In this action, we must decide whether a mother, the custodian of a child pursuant to a court order, may invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination to resist an order of the Juvenile Court to produce the child. We hold that she may not.
I
Petitioner Maurice M. is an abused child. When he was three months old, he was hospitalized with a fractured left femur, and examination revealed several partially healed bone fractures and other indications of severe physical abuse. In the hospital, respondent Bouknight, Maurice’s mother, was observed shaking Maurice, dropping him in his crib despite his spica cast, and otherwise handling him in a manner inconsistent with his recovery and continued health. Hospital personnel notified Baltimore City Department of Social Services (BCDSS), petitioner in No. 88-1182, of suspected child abuse. In February, 1987, BCDSS secured a court order removing Maurice from Bouknight’s control and placing him in shelter care. Several months later, the shelter care order was inexplicably modified to return Maurice to Bouknight’s custody temporarily. Following a hearing held shortly thereafter, the Juvenile Court declared Maurice to be a “child in need of assistance,” thus asserting jurisdiction over Maurice and placing him under BCDSS’s continuing oversight. BCDSS agreed that Bouknight could continue as custodian of the child, but only pursuant to extensive conditions set forth in a
Justice O’CONNOR, with whom Justice SCALIA and Justice KENNEDY join, concurring.
Petitioners assert that the Interstate Commerce Commission’s (ICC) actions prevent them from enjoying property rights secured by Vermont law, and thereby have effected a compensable taking. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit determined that, no matter what Vermont law might provide, the ICC’s actions forestalled petitioners from possessing the asserted reversionary interest, and thus that no takings claim could arise. Today the Court affirms the Second Circuit’s judgment on quite different grounds. I join the Court’s opinion, but write separately to express my view that state law determines what property interest petitioners possess, and that traditional takings doctrine will determine whether the Government must compensate petitioners for the burden imposed on any property interest they possess.
As the Court acknowledges, ante at 494 U. S. 8 -9, 494 U. S. 15 -16, state law creates and defines the scope of the reversionary or other real property interests affected by the ICC’s actions pursuant to Section 208 of the National Trails System Act Amendments of 1983, 16 U.S.C. § 1247(d). In determining whether a taking has occurred,
we are mindful of the basic axiom that ‘[p]roperty interests… are not created by the Constitution. Rather, they are created and their dimensions are defined by existing rules or understandings that stem from an independent source such as state law.’
Ruckelshaus
Justice O’CONNOR, with whom Chief Justice SCALIA and Justice KENNEDY join, dissenting.
Without doubt, respondent Burch alleges a serious deprivation of liberty, yet equally clearly he alleges no violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court concludes that an allegation of state actors’ wanton, unauthorized departure from a State’s established policies and procedures, working a deprivation of liberty, suffices to support a procedural due process claim even though the State provides adequate postdeprivation remedies for that deprivation. The Court’s opinion unnecessarily transforms well established procedural due process doctrine, and departs from controlling precedent. I respectfully dissent.
Parratt v. Taylor, 451 U. S. 527 (1981), and Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U. S. 517 (1984), should govern this case. Only by disregarding the gist of Burch’s complaint -that state actors’ wanton and unauthorized departure from established practice worked the deprivation -and by transforming the allegations into a challenge to the adequacy of Florida’s admissions procedures can the Court attempt to distinguish this case from Parratt and Hudson.
Burch alleges a deprivation occasioned by petitioners’ contravention of Florida’s established procedures. Florida allows the voluntary admission process to be employed to admit to its mental hospitals only patients who have made “application by express and informed consent for admission,” and requires that the elaborate involuntary admission process
Justice O’CONNOR, with whom Justice BRENNAN, Justice MARSHALL, and Justice BLACKMUN join, dissenting.
The only potentially nondiverse party in this case is a limited partner. All other parties, including the general partners and the limited partnership itself, assuming it is a citizen, are diverse. Thus, the Court has before it a single question -whether the citizenship of a limited partner must be counted for purposes of diversity jurisdiction. The Court first addresses whether the limited partnership is a “citizen.” I do not consider that issue, because even if we were to hold that a limited partnership is a citizen, we are still required to consider which, if any, of the other citizens before the Court as members of Arkoma Associates are real parties to the controversy, i.e., which parties have control over the subject of and litigation over the controversy. See Marshall v. Baltimore & Ohio R. Co., 16 How. 314, 57 U. S. 328, (1854). Application of that test leads me to conclude that limited partners are not real parties to the controversy and, therefore, should not be counted for purposes of diversity jurisdiction.
I
The Court asserts that “[w]e have long since decided” to leave to Congress the issue of the proper treatment of unincorporated associations for diversity purposes, because the issue of which business association
is entitled to be considered a citizen’ for diversity purposes, and which of their members’ citizenship is to be consulted, are questions more readily
JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE SCALIA joins, concurring.
I join the Court’s opinion, but write separately to note what the Court acknowledges in the last sentence of a footnote, see ante at 494 U. S. 551 -552, n 3: that the question whether petitioner has stated a valid claim under § 1981 remains open. In the District Court, petitioner claimed that respondent had fired him because of his race and retaliated against him for filing a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Ante at 494 U. S. 548. As Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, 491 U. S. 164 (1989), was decided after the Court of Appeals issued its decision, the applicability of § 1981 to these claims was not specifically addressed. This Court’s usual practice is to decline to address questions raised for the first time here. See United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U. S. 544, 446 U. S. 551 -552, n. 5 (1980); Youakim v. Miller, 425 U. S. 231, 425 U. S. 234 (1976). The Court adheres to this practice, noting that arguments based on Patterson neither were “presented to either court below” nor are to be found “in the record.” Ante at 494 U. S. 552, n. 3. The Court correctly concludes that there is “therefore… nothing in the record to justify affirming the Fourth Circuit’s judgment” at this juncture. Ibid. On remand, therefore, the parties will have ample opportunity to present arguments, and the lower courts will have the first opportunity to consider whether either of petitioner’s charges
Justice O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.
We are called upon in these cases to decide the applicable rate of postjudgment interest and the date from which postjudgment interest should be calculated pursuant to the federal postjudgment interest statute. 28 U.S.C. § 1961 (1982 ed.) (amended).
I
Respondents (Bonjorno) were the sole stockholders of now defunct Columbia Metal Culvert Co., Inc., which was at one time a fabricator of aluminum drainage pipe in Vineland, New Jersey. Bonjorno brought suit against petitioners (Kaiser) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on the theory that Kaiser had monopolized the market for aluminum drainage pipe in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States in violation of the Sherman Act. 26 Stat. 209, as amended, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1 and 2 (1988).
At the first trial, the District Court entered a directed verdict for Kaiser. The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed, holding that there was sufficient evidence for the case to go to the jury. Columbia Metal Culvert Co. v. Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp., 579 F.2d 20, 37 (1978). On August 21, 1979, a second trial resulted in a jury verdict in respondents’ favor in the trebled amount of $5,445,000. The judgment was entered on August 22, 1979. The District Court held that the evidence did not support the jury’s damages award and granted petitioners’ motion for a new trial as to damages only. 518 F.Supp. 102, 109, 119 (ED Pa.1981). A limited retrial
Justice O’CONNOR, with whom Justice BRENNAN, Justice MARSHALL, and Justice BLACKMUN join as to Parts I and II, concurring in the judgment.*
Although I agree with the result the Court reaches in this case, I cannot join its opinion. In my view, today’s holding dramatically departs from well settled First Amendment jurisprudence, appears unnecessary to resolve the question presented, and is incompatible with our Nation’s fundamental commitment to individual religious liberty.
I
At the outset, I note that I agree with the Court’s implicit determination that the constitutional question upon which we granted review -whether the Free Exercise Clause protects a person’s religiously motivated use of peyote from the reach of a State’s general criminal law prohibition -is properly presented in this case. As the Court recounts, respondents Alfred Smith and Galen Black were denied unemployment compensation benefits because their sacramental use of peyote constituted work-related “misconduct,” not because they violated Oregon’s general criminal prohibition against possession of peyote. We held, however, in Employment Div., Dept. of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith, 485 U. S. 660 (1988) ( Smith I ), that whether a State may, consistent with federal law, deny unemployment compensation benefits to persons for their religious use of peyote depends on whether the State, as a matter of state law, has criminalized the underlying conduct. See id. at 485 U. S. 670 -672. The Oregon Supreme Court,