U. S. Supreme Court, February, 2000, Federal Case law

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Federal Courts - U. S. Supreme Court - February 23 - March 21, 2000

Rice v. Cayetano, No. 98-818, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, February 23, 2000, Decided
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Overview: Statute that denied Hawaiian citizen, who did not have the requisite ancestry to qualify as a "Hawaiian" in terms of the statute, the right to vote for state officers violated the Fifteenth Amendment in creating a race-based voting qualification.

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Roe v. Flores-Ortega, No. 98-1441, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, February 23, 2000, Decided
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Overview: Whether counsel was deficient in failing to file notice of appeal when respondent did not clearly convey his wishes was to be determined based on the reasonableness under the circumstances, and not by a bright-line rule requiring filing of notice.

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Rotella v. Wood, No. 98-896, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, February 23, 2000, Decided
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Overview: Petitioner's civil RICO action was untimely because the injury and pattern discovery rule did not govern the four-year limitations period for initiating action; pattern discovery rule would only further complicate the complexities of RICO actions.

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Willowbrook v. Olech, No. 98-1288, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, February 23, 2000, Decided
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Overview: Although a homeowner constituted a class of one, she successfully stated a claim for relief from equal protection violation by alleging that municipality irrationally treated her differently in providing water service than others similarly situated.

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Shalala v. Ill. Council on Long Term Care, No. 98-1109, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, February 29, 2000, Decided
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Overview: Nursing home association's challenge to Medicare regulations was barred by judicial review provision of Social Security Act, which required that association proceed through special review channel created by Medicare statutes.

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United States v. Johnson, No. 98-1696, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, March 1, 2000, Decided
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Overview: Court reversed a judgment for petitioner federal prisoner, which held that excess time served was to be credited against a term of supervised release because supervised release began only on the date the prisoner was actually released from prison.

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Portuondo v. Agard, No. 98-1170, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, March 6, 2000, Decided
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Overview: A prosecutor's summation comment calling to the jury's attention the fact that defendant had the opportunity to hear the other witnesses and thus tailor his testimony did not violate defendant's Fifth, Sixth, or Fourteenth Amendment rights.

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United States v. Locke, Nos. 98-1701 and 98-1706, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, March 6, 2000 *, Decided* Together with No. 98-1706, International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (Intertanko) v. Locke, Governor of Washington, et al., also on certiorari to the same court.
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Overview: More recent state laws regulating oil tanker design, equipment, reporting, and operating requirements could not stand because they were preempted by the comprehensive federal regulatory scheme governing oil tankers.

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Cortez Byrd Chips v. Bill Harbert Constr. Co., No. 98-1960, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, March 21, 2000, Decided
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Overview: Venue provisions of the Federal Arbitration Act were permissive so that petitioner's motion to vacate an arbitration award was properly filed in Mississippi even though the arbitration award was issued in Alabama.

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FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., No. 98-1152, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, March 21, 2000, Decided
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Overview: The court affirmed the decision of the court below, which held that Congress had not granted the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) jurisdiction to regulate tobacco products. The court stated that, considering the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (Act),, as a whole, it was clear that Congress intended to exclude tobacco products from the FDA's jurisdiction. If tobacco products were within the FDA's jurisdiction, the Act would require the FDA to remove them from the market entirely. Such a ban would contradict Congress' clear intent as expressed in recent tobacco-specific legislation. Thus, there existed no room for tobacco products within the Act's regulatory scheme. Given the history and the breadth of the authority that the FDA had asserted, the court was obliged to defer not to the agency's expansive construction of the statute, but Congress' consistent judgment to deny the FDA the power to regulate tobacco products. Therefore, the court affirmed the decision of the court below.

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