US Supreme Court Docket

Supreme Court Docket

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January 2004 [Download January 2004 Argument Calendar PDF]
[Click here for 2002-2003 Docket]
Monday, January 12

United States v. Abel C. Galletti, et al.
No. 02-1389

Subject:

Taxation, Business Partnerships

Question:

Whether, in order to enforce the derivative liability of partners for the tax debts of their partnership, the United States must make a separate assessment of the taxes owed by the partnership against each of the partners directly.

Decisions:

• U.S. Court of Appeals - 9th Circuit, Amended Opinion Filed: November 20, 2002
• United States Supreme Court, Cert. Granted: June 23, 2003
• United States Supreme Court, Decided: March 23, 2004

Resources:

• Docket Sheet From the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Oral Argument Transcript
• Northwestern University - Medill School of Journalism: On the Docket

Briefs:

Parties
• Petitioner (Petition) [PDF] [RTF] [TEXT]
• Petitioner - Reply (Petition) [PDF] [RTF] [TEXT]
  
  
• Petitioner (Merits) [PDF] [TEXT]
• Respondents (Merits) [PDF]
• Petitioner - Reply (Merits) [PDF] [TEXT]
• Joint Appendix (Merits) [PDF] [TEXT]

Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Attorney General of Missouri v. Missouri Municipal League, et al.
02-1238

Federal Communications Commission and United States v. Missouri Municipal League, et al.
02-1386

Southwestern Bell Telephone, L.P., fka Southwestern Bell Telephone Company v. Missouri Municipal League, et al.
02-1405

Subject:

Telecommunications, Federalism, Preemption

Question:

Whether 47 U.S.C. § 253(a), which provides that "[n]o State * * * regulation * * * may prohibit * * * the ability of any entity to provide any interstate or intrastate telecommunications service," preempts a state law prohibiting political subdivisions of the State from offering telecommunications service to the public.

Decisions:

• U.S. Court of Appeals - 8th Circuit, Filed: August 14, 2002
• United States Supreme Court, Cert. Granted: June 23, 2003
• United States Supreme Court, Decided: March 24, 2004

Resources:

• Docket Sheet (No. 02-1238) From the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Docket Sheet (No. 02-1386) From the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Docket Sheet (No. 02-1405) From the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Oral Argument Transcript
• Northwestern University - Medill School of Journalism: On the Docket

Briefs:

Parties
• Petitioners FCC and United States (No. 02-1386) (Petition) [PDF] [RTF] [TEXT]
• Petitioners FCC and United States - Reply (No. 02-1386) (Petition) [PDF] [TEXT]
  
  
• Petitioner Nixon (Merits) [PDF]
• Petitioners FCC and United States (Merits) [PDF] [TEXT]
• Petitioner Southwestern Bell Telephone (Merits) [PDF]
• Respondents (Merits) [PDF]
• Petitioner Nixon - Reply (Merits) [PDF]
• Petitioners FCC and United States - Reply (Merits) [PDF] [TEXT]
• Petitioner Southwestern Bell Telephone - Reply (Merits) [PDF]

Tuesday, January 13

State of Tennessee v. George Lane, et al.
No. 02-1667

Subject:

Americans with Disabilities Act, Eleventh Amendment

Question:

Whether Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. 12131 to 12165, exceeds Congress's authority under Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Decisions:

• U.S. Court of Appeals - 6th Circuit, Filed: January 10, 2003
• United States Supreme Court, Cert. Granted: June 23, 2003
• United States Supreme Court, Decided: May 17, 2004

Resources:

• Docket Sheet From the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Oral Argument Transcript
• Northwestern University - Medill School of Journalism: On the Docket

Briefs:

Parties
• Petitioner (Merits) [PDF]
• Respondent United States (Merits) [PDF] [TEXT]

Raymond B. Yates, M.D., etc. v. William T. Hendon, Trustee
No. 02-458

Subject:

Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), Working Owner's Participation

Question:

Whether the working owner of a business (here, the sole shareholder of a corporate employer) is precluded from being a "participant" under Section 3(7) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1002(7), in an ERISA plan.

Decisions:

• U.S. Court of Appeals - 6th Circuit, Filed: April 19, 2002
• United States Supreme Court, Cert. Granted: June 27, 2003
• United States Supreme Court, Decided: March 2, 2004

Resources:

• Docket Sheet From the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Oral Argument Transcript
• Northwestern University - Medill School of Journalism: On the Docket

Briefs:

Parties
• Petitioner (Merits) [PDF]
• Respondent (Merits) [PDF]
  
  Amicus - Petitioner
• United States (Petition) [PDF] [RTF] [TEXT]

Wednesday, January 14

Engine Manufacturers Association, et al. v. South Coast Air Quality Management District, et al.
No. 02-1343

Subject:

Clean Air Act, Federalism, Preemption

Question:

Whether local government regulations prohibiting the purchase of new motor vehicles with specified emission characteristics--which are otherwise approved for sale by state and federal regulators--are preempted by the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

Decisions:

• U.S. District Court - Central Dist. of Cal. [PDF] Filed: August 21, 2001
• U.S. Court of Appeals - 9th Circuit [PDF], Filed: October 24, 2002
• United States Supreme Court, Cert. Granted: June 9, 2003
• United States Supreme Court, Decided: April 28, 2004

Resources:

• Docket Sheet From the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Oral Argument Transcript
• Northwestern University - Medill School of Journalism: On the Docket

Briefs:

Parties
• Petitioners (Merits) [PDF]
• Respondents (Merits) [PDF]

South Florida Water Management District v. Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, et al.
No. 02-626

Subject:

Native Americans, Clean Water Act

Question:

Whether petitioner's longstanding practice of pumping accumulated water from a water collection canal to a water conservation area within the Florida Everglades constitutes an addition of a pollutant from a point source for purposes of Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1342, where the water contains a pollutant but the pumping station source itself adds no pollutants to the water being pumped.

Decisions:

• U.S. Court of Appeals - 11th Circuit, Filed: February 1, 2002
• United States Supreme Court, Cert. Granted: June 27, 2003
• United States Supreme Court, Decided: March 23, 2004

Resources:

• Docket Sheet From the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Oral Argument Transcript
• Northwestern University - Medill School of Journalism: On the Docket

Briefs:

Parties
• Petitioner (Merits) [PDF]
• Respondent Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida (Merits) [PDF] (2.9 MB)
  
  Amicus - Petitioner
• United States (Petition) [PDF] [RTF] [TEXT]
  
  
• United States (Merits) [PDF] [TEXT]

Tuesday, January 20

BedRoc Limited, LLC, et al. v. United States, et al.
No. 02-1593

Subject:

Pittman Underground Water Act of 1919, Federal Land Grants

Questions:

1. Whether the reservation of "valuable minerals" includes all common materials (such as sand and gravel), without regard to whether the materials located on particular lands were "valuable minerals" at the time of the patent; and
   
   
2. If Watt v. Western Nuclear [462 U.S. 36 (1983)] calls for the application of a per se rule regarding the reservation (or non-reservation) of common materials, whether congressional intent would be better served by a rule that common materials are not reserved to the government as "valuable minerals."

Decisions:

• U.S. Court of Appeals - 9th Circuit, Filed: December 30, 2002
• United States Supreme Court, Cert. Granted: September 30, 2003
• United States Supreme Court, Decided: March 31, 2004

Resources:

• Docket Sheet From the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Oral Argument Transcript
• Northwestern University - Medill School of Journalism: On the Docket

Briefs:

Parties
• Petitioner (Petition) [PDF] (4 MB)
• Respondents - Opposition (Petition) [PDF] [TEXT]
  
  
• Petitioner (Merits) [PDF] (2.8 MB)
• Respondents (Merits) [PDF] [TEXT]

J. Elliott Hibbs, Director, Arizona Dept. Of Revenue v. Kathleen M. Winn, et al.
No. 02-1809

Subject:

First Amendment, Establishment Clause, Tax Injunction Act, Federalism

Question:

Did the Ninth Circuit err in holding, in conflict with the First, Sixth, and Eleventh Circuits, that the Tax Injunction Act, 28 U.S.C. 1341, and princples of comity that traditionally restrain federal judicial interference with state tax systems do not require district courts to dismiss constitutional challenges to state tax credits that directly impact the administration of a State's tax system?

Decisions:

• U.S. Court of Appeals - 9th Circuit, Filed: October 3, 2002
• U.S. Court of Appeals - 9th Circuit, Dissent from Denial of Rehearing En Banc: March 5, 2003
• United States Supreme Court, Cert. Granted: September 30, 2003

Resources:

• Docket Sheet From the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Oral Argument Transcript
• Northwestern University - Medill School of Journalism: On the Docket

Briefs:

Parties
• Petitioner (Petition) [PDF] (2.5 MB)
  
  
• Petitioner (Merits) [PDF]
• Petitioner - Reply (Merits) [PDF]

Wednesday, January 21

United States v. Billy Jo Lara
No. 03-107

Subject:

Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968, 25 U.S.C. 1301, Tribal Soveriegn Power, Fifth Amendment, Double Jeopardy, Criminal Law

Question:

In Duro v. Reina, 495 U.S. 676 (1990), this Court held that Indian Tribes had lost their inherent sovereign power to prosecute members of other Tribes for offenses committed on their reservations. Congress responded to the Court's decision by amending the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968, 25 U.S.C. 1301, to "recognize[] and affirm[]" the "inherent power" of Tribes to "exercise criminal jurisdiction over all Indians." The question presented is:

Whether Section 1301, as amended, validly restores the Tribes' sovereign power to prosecute members of other Tribes (rather than delegates federal prosecutorial power to the Tribes), such that a federal prosecution following a tribal prosecution for an offense with the same elements is valid under the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

Decisions:

• U.S. Court of Appeals - 8th Circuit, Filed: June 4, 2002
• United States Supreme Court, Cert. Granted: September 30, 2003
• United States Supreme Court, Decided: April 19, 2004

Resources:

• Docket Sheet From the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Oral Argument Transcript
• Northwestern University - Medill School of Journalism: On the Docket

Briefs:

Parties
• Petitioner (Petition) [PDF] [TEXT]
• Petitioner - Reply (Petition) [PDF] [TEXT]
  
  
• Petitioner (Merits) [PDF] [TEXT]
• Respondent (Merits) [PDF]
• Petitioner - Reply (Merits) [PDF] [TEXT]

State of Iowa v. Felipe E. Tovar
No. 02-1541

Subject:

Sixth Amendment, Self-Representation, Right to Counsel, Criminal Law

Question:

Does the Sixth Amendment require a court to give a rigid and detailed admonishment to a pro se defendant pleading guilty of the usefulness of an attorney, that an attorney may provide an independent opinion whether it is wise to plead guilty and that without an attorney the defendant risks overlooking a defense?

Decisions:

• Supreme Court of Iowa, Filed: January 23, 2003
• United States Supreme Court, Cert. Granted: September 30, 2003
• United States Supreme Court, Decided: March 2, 2004

Resources:

• Docket Sheet From the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Oral Argument Transcript
• Northwestern University - Medill School of Journalism: On the Docket

Briefs:

Parties
• Petitioner (Petition) [PDF]
  
  
• Petitioner (Merits) [PDF]
• Respondent (Merits) [PDF]

 

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