This is a list of cases reported in volume 297 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1936.
| Supreme Court of the United States | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| 38°53′26″N 77°00′16″W / 38.89056°N 77.00444°W | |
| Established | March 4, 1789 |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Coordinates | 38°53′26″N 77°00′16″W / 38.89056°N 77.00444°W |
| Composition method | Presidential nomination with Senate confirmation |
| Authorised by | Constitution of the United States, Art. III, § 1 |
| Judge term length | life tenure, subject to impeachment and removal |
| Number of positions | 9 (by statute) |
| Website | supremecourt |
Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 297 U.S.
editThe Supreme Court is established by Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States, which says: "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court . . .". The size of the Court is not specified; the Constitution leaves it to Congress to set the number of justices. Under the Judiciary Act of 1789 Congress originally fixed the number of justices at six (one chief justice and five associate justices).[1] Since 1789 Congress has varied the size of the Court from six to seven, nine, ten, and back to nine justices (always including one chief justice).
When the cases in volume 297 were decided the Court comprised the following nine members:
| Portrait | Justice | Office | Home State | Succeeded | Date confirmed by the Senate (Vote) |
Tenure on Supreme Court |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Charles Evans Hughes | Chief Justice | New York | William Howard Taft | February 13, 1930 (52–26) |
February 24, 1930 – June 30, 1941 (Retired) |
|
Willis Van Devanter | Associate Justice | Wyoming | Edward Douglass White (as Associate Justice) | December 15, 1910 (Acclamation) |
January 3, 1911 – June 2, 1937 (Retired) |
|
James Clark McReynolds | Associate Justice | Tennessee | Horace Harmon Lurton | August 29, 1914 (44–6) |
October 12, 1914 – January 31, 1941 (Retired) |
|
Louis Brandeis | Associate Justice | Massachusetts | Joseph Rucker Lamar | June 1, 1916 (47–22) |
June 5, 1916 – February 13, 1939 (Retired) |
|
George Sutherland | Associate Justice | Utah | John Hessin Clarke | September 5, 1922 (Acclamation) |
October 2, 1922 – January 17, 1938 (Retired) |
|
Pierce Butler | Associate Justice | Minnesota | William R. Day | December 21, 1922 (61–8) |
January 2, 1923 – November 16, 1939 (Died) |
|
Harlan F. Stone | Associate Justice | New York | Joseph McKenna | February 5, 1925 (71–6) |
March 2, 1925 – July 2, 1941 (Continued as chief justice) |
|
Owen Roberts | Associate Justice | Pennsylvania | Edward Terry Sanford | May 20, 1930 (Acclamation) |
June 2, 1930 – July 31, 1945 (Resigned) |
|
Benjamin N. Cardozo | Associate Justice | New York | Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. | February 24, 1932 (Acclamation) |
March 14, 1932 – July 9, 1938 (Died) |
Notable Cases in 297 U.S.
editUnited States v. Butler
editIn United States v. Butler, 297 U.S. 1 (1936), the Supreme Court held that the U.S. Congress has not only the power to lay taxes to the level necessary to carry out its other powers enumerated in Article I of the U.S. Constitution but also a broad authority to tax and spend for the "general welfare" of the United States. The decision itself concerned whether the processing taxes instituted by the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act were constitutional.
Brown v. Mississippi
editIn Brown v. Mississippi, 297 U.S. 278 (1936), the Supreme Court ruled that a defendant's involuntary confession that is extracted by the use of force on the part of law enforcement cannot be entered as evidence and violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In a unanimous decision, the Court reversed the convictions of the African-American defendants. The Court held that a defendant's confession extracted by police torture cannot be entered as evidence, and violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The prosecutor at the trial level, John Stennis, was not hurt politically by his prosecutions based on torture-extracted confessions; to the contrary, the voters of Mississippi elected him to office thirteen times, and he never lost an election.
Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority
editAshwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 297 U.S. 288 (1936), is a Supreme Court case that provided the first elaboration of the doctrine of "Constitutional avoidance".
Federal court system
editUnder the Judiciary Act of 1789 the federal court structure at the time comprised District Courts, which had general trial jurisdiction; Circuit Courts, which had mixed trial and appellate (from the US District Courts) jurisdiction; and the United States Supreme Court, which had appellate jurisdiction over the federal District and Circuit courts—and for certain issues over state courts. The Supreme Court also had limited original jurisdiction (i.e., in which cases could be filed directly with the Supreme Court without first having been heard by a lower federal or state court). There were one or more federal District Courts and/or Circuit Courts in each state, territory, or other geographical region.
The Judiciary Act of 1891 created the United States Courts of Appeals and reassigned the jurisdiction of most routine appeals from the district and circuit courts to these appellate courts. The Act created nine new courts that were originally known as the "United States Circuit Courts of Appeals." The new courts had jurisdiction over most appeals of lower court decisions. The Supreme Court could review either legal issues that a court of appeals certified or decisions of court of appeals by writ of certiorari. On January 1, 1912, the effective date of the Judicial Code of 1911, the old Circuit Courts were abolished, with their remaining trial court jurisdiction transferred to the U.S. District Courts.
List of cases in volume 297 U.S.
edit- [a] VanDevanter took no part in the case
- [b] Roberts took no part in the case
- [c] Sutherland took no part in the case
- [d] Stone took no part in the case
Notes and references
edit- ^ "Supreme Court Research Guide". Georgetown Law Library. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
External links
edit- [1] Case reports in volume 297 from Library of Congress
- [2] Case reports in volume 297 from Court Listener
- [3] Case reports in volume 297 from the Caselaw Access Project of Harvard Law School
- [4] Case reports in volume 297 from Google Scholar
- [5] Case reports in volume 297 from Justia
- [6] Case reports in volume 297 from Open Jurist
- Website of the United States Supreme Court
- United States Courts website about the Supreme Court
- National Archives, Records of the Supreme Court of the United States
- American Bar Association, How Does the Supreme Court Work?
- The Supreme Court Historical Society
