Supreme Court Opinions

Supreme Court Opinions by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

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Found 657 entries. (Showing 25)

Watt v. Energy Action Educ. Foundation(454 U.S. 151)
December 1, 1981 | For the Court
Topic: Economic Activity
JUSTICE O'CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court. We are asked to review a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit compelling the Secretary of the Interior to experiment with the use of certain statutor...

Boag v. MacDougall(454 U.S. 364)
January 11, 1982 | Concurrence
Topic: Criminal Procedure
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, concurring. I join in the per curiam, but write separately to emphasize two points. First, nothing in the Court's opinion prevents the District Court on remand from dismissing this suit under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d) if it finds grounds...

Charles D. Bonanno Linen Serv. Inc. v. NLRB(454 U.S. 404)
January 12, 1982 | Dissent
Topic: Unions
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE POWELL joins, dissenting. I join THE CHIEF JUSTICE in the introductory comments and Part I of his dissent. However, I write separately because I believe labor peace would be advanced by avoiding the absolute posit...

United States v. Clark(454 U.S. 555)
January 12, 1982 | For the Court
Topic: Economic Activity
JUSTICE O'CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court. The issue in this case is whether 5 U.S.C. § 5334(b), which requires a two-step pay increase for federal employees "promoted... to a position in a higher grade," applies to prevailing wage rate em...

Eddings v. Oklahoma(455 U.S. 104)
January 19, 1982 | Concurrence
Topic: Criminal Procedure
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, concurring. I write separately to address more fully the reasons why this case must be remanded in light of Lockett v. Ohio, 438 U. S. 586 (1978), which requires the trial court to consider and weigh all of the mitigating evidence ...

Smith v. Phillips(455 U.S. 209)
January 25, 1982 | Concurrence
Topic: Due Process
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, concurring. I concur in the Court's opinion, but write separately to express my view that the opinion does not foreclose the use of "implied bias" in appropriate circumstances. I Determining whether a juror is biased or has preju...

Rose v. Lundy(455 U.S. 509)
March 3, 1982 | For the Court
Topic: Criminal Procedure
JUSTICE O'CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court, except as to Part III-C. In this case, we consider whether the exhaustion rule in 28 U.S.C. §§ 224(b), (c) requires a federal district court to dismiss a petition for a writ of habeas corpus conta...

Bread Political Action Comm'n v. FEC(455 U.S. 577)
March 8, 1982 | For the Court
Topic: First Amendment
JUSTICE O'CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court. Section 310(a) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA), 88 Stat. 1285, as amended, 2 U.S.C. § 437h(a) (1976 ed., Supp. IV), lists three categories of plaintiffs who may challenge the c...

McElroy v. United States(455 U.S. 642)
March 23, 1982 | For the Court
Topic: Criminal Procedure
JUSTICE O'CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court. The petitioner was convicted of two counts of transporting a forged security in interstate commerce in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2314. He challenges his conviction on the ground that the statute re...

Engle v. Isaac(456 U.S. 107)
April 5, 1982 | For the Court
Topic: Criminal Procedure
JUSTICE O'CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court. In Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U. S. 72 (1977), we held that a state prisoner, barred by procedural default from raising a constitutional claim on direct appeal, could not litigate that claim in a § ...

Mills v. Habluetzel(456 U.S. 91)
April 5, 1982 | Concurrence
Topic: Civil Rights
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE, JUSTICE BRENNAN, and JUSTICE BLACKMUN join, and with whom JUSTICE POWELL joins as to Part I, concurring. Today, this Court holds that a Texas statute prescribing a one-year statute of limitation for pat...

United States v. Frady(456 U.S. 152)
April 5, 1982 | For the Court
Topic: Criminal Procedure
JUSTICE O'CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court. Rule 52(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure permits a criminal conviction to be overturned on direct appeal for "plain error" in the jury instructions, even if the defendant failed to ob...

Greene v. Lindsey(456 U.S. 444)
May 17, 1982 | Dissent
Topic: Due Process
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and JUSTICE REHNQUIST join, dissenting. Today, the Court holds that the Constitution prefers the use of the Postal Service to posted notice. The Court reaches this conclusion despite the total absence of...

FBI v. Abramson(456 U.S. 615)
May 24, 1982 | Dissent
Topic: Privacy
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE MARSHALL joins, dissenting. Justice Frankfurter once explained the limits of statutory construction as follows: [T]he courts are not at large.... They are under the constraints imposed by the judicial function in...

FERC v. Mississippi(456 U.S. 742)
June 1, 1982 | Partial concurrence, partial dissent
Topic: Federalism
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE and JUSTICE REHNQUIST join, concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part. I agree with the Court that the Commerce Clause supported Congress' enactment of the Public Utility Regulatory Polic...

Inwood Laboratories v. Ives Laboratories(456 U.S. 844)
June 1, 1982 | For the Court
Topic: Economic Activity
JUSTICE O'CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court. This action requires us to consider the circumstances under which a manufacturer of a generic drug, designed to duplicate the appearance of a similar drug marketed by a competitor under a register...

Tibbs v. Florida(457 U.S. 31)
June 7, 1982 | For the Court
Topic: Criminal Procedure
JUSTICE O'CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court. We granted certiorari to decide whether the Double Jeopardy Clause [ Footnote 1 ] bars retrial after a state appellate court sets aside a conviction on the ground that the verdict was against "the...

Zobel v. Williams(457 U.S. 55)
June 14, 1982 | Concurrence
Topic: Civil Rights
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, concurring in the judgment. The Court strikes Alaska's distribution scheme, purporting to rely solely upon the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The phrase "right to travel" appears only fleetingly in the Court's...

Hathorn v. Lovorn(457 U.S. 255)
June 15, 1982 | For the Court
Topic: Civil Rights
JUSTICE O'CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court. We granted certiorari to decide whether a state court may order implementation of a change in election procedure over objections that the change is subject to preclearance under § 5 of the Voting ...

California v. Grace Brethren Church(457 U.S. 393)
June 18, 1982 | For the Court
Topic: Judicial Power
JUSTICE O'CONNOR delivered the opinion of the Court. The principal question presented by the parties to these appeals is whether certain state and federal statutes violate the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment [ Footnote...

Patsy v. Board of Regents of State of Florida(457 U.S. 496)
June 21, 1982 | Concurrence
Topic: Judicial Power
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, with whom JUSTICE REHNQUIST joins, concurring. As discussed in JUSTICE POWELL's dissenting opinion, as well as in the opinion of the court below, considerations of sound policy suggest that a § 1983 plaintiff should be required to ...

Edgar v. MITE Corp(457 U.S. 624)
June 23, 1982 | Concurrence
Topic: Economic Activity
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, concurring in part. I agree with the Court that the case is not moot, and that portions of the Illinois Business Take-Over Act, Ill.Rev.Stat., ch. 121 1/2, 137.51 et seq. (1979), are invalid under the Commerce Clause. Because it is...

Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Ct(457 U.S. 596)
June 23, 1982 | Concurrence
Topic: First Amendment
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, concurring in the judgment. In Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia, 448 U. S. 555 (1980), the Court held that the First Amendment protects the right of press and public to attend criminal trials. I do not interpret that decision ...

Taylor v. Alabama(457 U.S. 687)
June 23, 1982 | Dissent
Topic: Criminal Procedure
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE, JUSTICE POWELL, and JUSTICE REHNQUIST join, dissenting. The Court holds today that Omar Taylor's detailed confession was the fruit of an illegal arrest, and consequently, should be suppressed. Because I...

Jacksonville Bulk Terminals v. Longshoremen(457 U.S. 702)
June 24, 1982 | Concurrence
Topic: Unions
JUSTICE O'CONNOR, concurring in the judgment. Based on the legislative history of the Norris-La Guardia Act, 29 U.S.C. § 101 et seq., and our previous cases interpreting it, e.g., New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co., 303 U. S. 552 (1938), the...

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