Supreme Court Opinions

Federalism, Harry Blackmun, Majority, Warren Burger, William Rehnquist

Brown v. Dept. of Law & Pub. Safety

Federalism, Harry Blackmun, Majority, Warren Burger, William Rehnquist / By

JUSTICE O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.

In 1976, the citizens of New Jersey amended their State Constitution to permit the legislative authorization of casino gambling within the municipality of Atlantic City. [ Footnote 1 ] Determined to prevent the infiltration of organized crime into its nascent casino industry and to assure public trust in the industry’s integrity, the New Jersey Legislature enacted the Casino Control Act (Act), N.J.Stat.Ann. § 5:12-1 et seq. (West Supp.1983-1984), which provides for the comprehensive regulation of casino gambling, including the regulation of unions representing industry employees. Sections 86 and 93 of the Act specifically impose certain qualification criteria on officials of labor organizations representing casino industry employees. Those labor organizations with officials found not to meet these standards may be prohibited from receiving dues from casino industry employees and prohibited from administering pension and welfare funds. The principal question presented by these cases is whether the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 141 et seq., precludes New Jersey from imposing these criteria on those whom casino industry employees may select as officials of their bargaining representatives. We hold that it does not.

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A

The advent of casino gambling in New Jersey was heralded with great expectations for the economic revitalization of the Atlantic City region, but with equally great fears for the

Civil Rights, Dissent

Bowen v. American Hosp. Ass’n

Civil Rights, Dissent / By

JUSTICE O’CONNOR, dissenting.

I fully agree with JUSTICE WHITE’s conclusion that the only question properly before us is whether the Court of Appeals correctly concluded that the Secretary has no power under 29 U.S.C. § 794 to regulate medical treatment decisions concerning handicapped newborn infants. I also agree that application of established principles of statutory construction and of the appropriate standard for judicial review of agency action leads inescapably to the conclusion that the Secretary has the authority to regulate in this area. Because, however, I see no need at this juncture to address the details of the regulations or to assess whether they are sufficiently rational to survive review under 5 U.S.C. § 706 (2)(A), I join only parts 476 U. S. 476 U. S. 476 U. S. and 476 U. S.

Concurrence, Criminal Procedure

Caldwell v. Mississippi

Concurrence, Criminal Procedure / By

JUSTICE O’CONNOR, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.

I join the judgment and the opinion of the Court, with the exception of Part IV-A. I write separately to express my views about the Court’s discussion of California v. Ramos, 463 U. S. 992 (1983), in Part 472 U. S. I do not read Ramos to imply that the giving of nonmisleading and accurate information regarding the jury’s role in the sentencing scheme is irrelevant to the sentencing decision.

The Court distinguishes the prosecutor’s remarks regarding appellate review in this case from the Briggs instruction in Ramos, which informed the jury that the Governor could commute a life sentence without parole. The Court observes that the Briggs instruction in Ramos was

both accurate and relevant to a legitimate state penological interest -that interest being a concern for the future dangerousness of the defendant should he ever return to society.

Ante at 472 U. S. 335. The statement here, the Court concludes, was neither accurate nor relevant. In my view, the prosecutor’s remarks were impermissible because they were inaccurate and misleading in a manner that diminished the jury’s sense of responsibility. I agree there can be no “valid state penological interest” in imparting inaccurate or misleading information that minimizes the importance of the jury’s deliberations in a capital sentencing case. Ante at 472 U. S. 336.

The Court, however, seems generally to characterize information regarding appellate review

Concurrence, First Amendment

Bowen v. Kendrick

Concurrence, First Amendment / By

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

First Amendment, John Paul Stevens, Partial concurrence, partial dissent, William Rehnquist

Brown v. Socialist Workers Comm

First Amendment, John Paul Stevens, Partial concurrence, partial dissent, William Rehnquist / By

JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE REHNQUIST and JUSTICE STEVENS join, concurring in part and dissenting in part.

I concur in the judgment that the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) has sufficiently demonstrated a reasonable probability that disclosure of contributors will subject those persons to threats, harassment, or reprisals, and thus, under Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U. S. 1 (1976), the State of Ohio cannot constitutionally compel the disclosure. Further, I agree that the broad concerns of Buckley apply to the required disclosure of recipients of campaign expenditures. But, as I view the record presented here, the SWP has failed to carry its burden of showing that there is a reasonable probability that disclosure of recipients of expenditures will subject the recipients themselves or the SWP to threats, harassment, or reprisals. Moreover, the strong public interest in fair and honest elections outweighs any damage done to the associational rights of the party and its members by application of the State’s expenditure disclosure law.

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Buckley upheld the validity of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which requires the disclosure of names of both contributors to a campaign and recipients of expenditures from the campaign. Buckley recognized three major governmental interests in disclosure requirements: deterrence of corruption; enhancement of voters’ knowledge about a candidate’s possible allegiances and interests; and provision of the data and means necessary to detect

First Amendment, Partial concurrence, partial dissent, Thurgood Marshall, William Brennan

Bowen v. Roy

First Amendment, Partial concurrence, partial dissent, Thurgood Marshall, William Brennan / By

JUSTICE O’CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE BRENNAN and JUSTICE MARSHALL join, concurring in part and dissenting in part.

I join Parts I and II of THE CHIEF JUSTICE’s opinion, and I would vacate only a portion of the injunction issued by the District Court.

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I believe that appellees cannot pursue their free exercise claim based solely on the actions of the Government with respect to the use of a Social Security number already in its possession, or with respect to any other identification number the Government may wish to assign and use in connection with its administration of its welfare assistance program. Accordingly, I join Parts 476 U. S. S. 699|>II of THE CHIEF JUSTICE’s opinion, and I would vacate that portion of the District Court’s judgment that enjoins the Government from using or disseminating the Social Security number already assigned to Little Bird of the Snow.

In all, eight Members of the Court believe that the District Court’s injunction was overbroad in preventing the Government from using information already in its possession. See ante at 476 U. S. 699 -701 (opinion of BURGER, C.J., joined by POWELL and REHNQUIST, JJ.); ante at 476 U. S. 716 -717 (STEVENS, J., concurring in part and concurring in the result); ante at 476 U. S. 713 (BLACKMUN, J., concurring in part); supra, this page.

A logical next step on the facts of this case is to consider whether the case is moot. Only two Members of the Court believe that the case is, or may be, moot. See ante at 476 U. S.

Attorneys, Dissent

Burlington v. Dague

Attorneys, Dissent / By

JUSTICE O’CONNOR, dissenting.

I continue to be of the view that in certain circumstances a “reasonable” attorney’s fee should not be computed by the purely retrospective lodestar figure, but also must incorporate a reasonable incentive to an attorney contemplating whether or not to take a case in the first place. See Pennsylvania v. Delaware Valley Citizens’ Council for Clean Air, 483 U. S. 711, 731-734 (1987) (Delaware Valley II) (O’CONNOR, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment). As JUSTICE BLACKMUN cogently explains, when an attorney must choose between two cases-one with a client who will pay the attorney’s fees win or lose and the other who can only promise the statutory compensation if the case is successful-the attorney will choose the fee-paying client, unless the contingency client can promise an enhancement of sufficient magnitude to justify the extra risk of nonpayment. Ante, at 568-569. Thus, a reasonable fee should be one that would “attract competent counsel,” Delaware Valley II, supra, at 733 (O’CONNOR, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment), and in some markets this must include the assurance of a contingency enhancement if the plaintiff should prevail. I therefore dissent from the Court’s holding that a “reasonable” attorney’s fee can never include an enhancement for cases taken on contingency. In my view the promised enhancement should be “based on the difference in market treatment of contingent fee cases as a class, rather than on an

Concurrence, Criminal Procedure

California v. Brown

Concurrence, Criminal Procedure / By

JUSTICE O’CONNOR, concurring.

This case squarely presents the tension that has long existed between the two central principles of our Eighth Amendment jurisprudence. In Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U. S. 153, 428 U. S. 189 (1976), JUSTICES Stewart, POWELL, and STEVENS concluded that,

where discretion is afforded a sentencing body on a matter so grave as the determination of whether a human life should be taken or spared, that discretion must be suitably directed and limited so as to minimize the risk of wholly arbitrary and capricious action.

In capital sentencing, therefore, discretion must be ” controlled by clear and objective standards so as to produce nondiscriminatory application.'” Id. at 428 U. S. 198 (quoting Coley v. State, 231 Ga. 829, 834, 204 S.E.2d 612, 615 (1974)). See also Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U. S. 242, 428 U. S. 253 (1976) (joint opinion of Stewart, POWELL, and STEVENS, JJ.) (State must provide “specific and detailed guidance” to the sentencing body). On the other hand, this Court has also held that a sentencing body must be able to consider any relevant mitigating evidence regarding the defendant’s character or background, and the circumstances of the particular offense. Eddings v. Oklahoma, 455 U. S. 104 (1982); Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U. S. 586 (1978) (plurality opinion).

The issue in this case is whether an instruction designed to satisfy the principle that capital sentencing decisions must not be made on mere whim, but instead on clear and objective standards,

Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Byron White, Federalism, Harry Blackmun, John Paul Stevens, Majority, Thurgood Marshall, William Brennan, William Rehnquist

Bonito Boats v. Thunder Craft Boats

Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Byron White, Federalism, Harry Blackmun, John Paul Stevens, Majority, Thurgood Marshall, William Brennan, William Rehnquist / By

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.

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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

Byron White, David Souter, Harry Blackmun, Judicial Power, Majority, William Rehnquist

Business Guides v. Chromatic Commun

Byron White, David Souter, Harry Blackmun, Judicial Power, Majority, William Rehnquist / By

Justice O’CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court.

In this case, we decide whether Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure imposes an objective standard of reasonable inquiry on represented parties who sign pleadings, motions, or other papers.

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Business Guides, Inc., a subsidiary of a leading publisher of trade magazines and journals, publishes directories for 18 specialized areas of retail trade. In an effort to protect its directories against copying, Business Guides deliberately plants in them bits of false information, known as “seeds.” Some seeds consist of minor alterations in otherwise accurate listings -transposed numbers in an address or zip code, or a misspelled name -while others take the form of wholly fictitious listings describing nonexistent businesses. Business Guides considers the presence of seeds in a competitor’s directory to be evidence of copyright infringement. *

On October 31, 1986, Business Guides, through its counsel Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Heine, Unterberg, Manley, Myerson, and Casey (Finley, Kumble), filed an action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against Chromatic Communications Enterprises, Inc., claiming copyright infringement, conversion, and unfair competition, and seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO). The TRO application was signed by a Finley, Kumble attorney and by Business Guides’ president on behalf of the corporation. Business Guides submitted under seal affidavits in support