Facts—Statutory provisions in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia denied welfare assistance to persons who were residents and met all other eligibility requirements except that they had not resided within the jurisdiction for at least a year immediately preceding…
Facts—This case involved the constitutionality of Connecticut’s birth control law. The statute provided that “any person who uses any drug, medical article or instrument for the purpose of preventing conception” was to be subject to fine or imprisonment or both.…
Facts—The superintendent of the State Colony for Epileptics and Feeble Minded in the state of Virginia ordered an operation upon Carrie Buck, the plaintiff in error, for the purpose of sterilizing her. She contended that the Virginia statute authorizing the…
Facts—In November 1922, the state of Oregon passed a Compulsory Education Act requiring every child from the ages of eight to sixteen to attend public school. Parents or guardians who refused would be guilty of a misdemeanor. The plaintiff corporation…
Facts—In 1919 Nebraska passed a statute that prohibited the teaching of any subject in any other language than English. Languages could be taught only after the child had successfully passed the eighth grade. Meyer taught in a parochial school and…
Facts—Ralph Baze and Thomas C. Bowling were each convicted of two counts of capital murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection in Kentucky. They sued John D. Rees, the commissioner of Kentucky’s Department of Corrections and other state officials…
Facts—Largely influenced by the kidnapping and murder of twelve-year-old Polly Klaas by a kidnapper who had been released from prison, California adopted a “Three Strikes and You’re Out” law designed to increase punishments for prior serious offenders. Under this law,…
Facts—A jury that deadlocked on the charge of premeditated murder convicted Ring of a felony murder committed during an armed robbery. By itself this penalty did not carry a death sentence, but a judge subsequently found the presence of aggravating…
Facts—Daryl Atkins was convicted of a number of crimes including capital murder for the robbery and shooting of Eric Nesbitt. The jury found aggravating circumstances and sentenced Atkins to death despite testimony at his penalty hearing indicating that he was…
Facts—In Booth v. Maryland, 482 U.S. 496 (1987) and South Carolina v. Gathers, 490 U.S. 804 (1989), the Supreme Court barred the use of victimimpact evidence during the penalty phase of a capital trial. Nonetheless, in this case, a Tennessee…