List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 261

Coordinates: 38°53′26″N 77°00′16″W / 38.89056°N 77.00444°W / 38.89056; -77.00444
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Supreme Court of the United States
Map
38°53′26″N 77°00′16″W / 38.89056°N 77.00444°W / 38.89056; -77.00444
EstablishedMarch 4, 1789; 235 years ago (1789-03-04)
LocationWashington, D.C.
Coordinates38°53′26″N 77°00′16″W / 38.89056°N 77.00444°W / 38.89056; -77.00444
Composition methodPresidential nomination with Senate confirmation
Authorized byConstitution of the United States, Art. III, § 1
Judge term lengthlife tenure, subject to impeachment and removal
Number of positions9 (by statute)
Websitesupremecourt.gov

This is a list of cases reported in volume 261 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1923.

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 261 U.S.[edit]

The 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 261 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
William Howard Taft Chief Justice Connecticut Edward Douglass White June 30, 1921
(Acclamation)
July 11, 1921

February 3, 1930
(Retired)
Joseph McKenna Associate Justice California Stephen Johnson Field January 21, 1898
(Acclamation)
January 26, 1898

January 5, 1925
(Retired)
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Associate Justice Massachusetts Horace Gray December 4, 1902
(Acclamation)
December 8, 1902

January 12, 1932
(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)
Edward Terry Sanford Associate Justice Tennessee Mahlon Pitney January 29, 1923
(Acclamation)
February 19, 1923

March 8, 1930
(Died)

Notable cases in 261 U.S.[edit]

Moore v. Dempsey[edit]

In Moore v. Dempsey, 261 U.S. 86 (1923), the Supreme Court held that the African-American defendants' mob-dominated trials deprived them of due process guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. It reversed the U.S. district court's decision declining the petitioners' writ of habeas corpus. This case was a precedent for the Supreme Court's review of state criminal trials in terms of their compliance with the Bill of Rights. Moore is a significant precedent for wider use of federal writs of habeas corpus to review state court convictions that occurred under conditions abridging federal constitutional rights. It marked the beginning of stricter scrutiny by the Supreme Court of state criminal trials in terms of their compliance with the Bill of Rights. This ruling reduced the capacity of a local community "to permanently deprive or deny the rights of those who might be prosecuted in its courts."[2]

United States v. Thind[edit]

United States v. Thind, 261 U.S. 204 (1923), is a Supreme Court decision that Bhagat Singh Thind, an Indian Sikh man who identified himself as an Aryan, was ineligible for naturalized citizenship in the United States. Thind had filed a petition for naturalization under the Naturalization Act of 1906 which allowed only "free white persons" and "aliens of African nativity and persons of African descent" to become United States citizens by naturalization. After his petition was granted, government attorneys initiated a proceeding to cancel Thind's naturalization. Thind did not challenge the constitutionality of the racial restrictions. Instead, he attempted to be classified as a "free white person" within the meaning of the Naturalization Act based on the fact that Indians and Europeans share common descent from Proto-Indo-Europeans. The Supreme Court rejected Thind's argument, adding that Thind did not meet a "common sense" definition of white. The Court concluded that "the term 'Aryan' has to do with linguistic, and not with physical characteristics.

Adkins v. Children's Hospital[edit]

In Adkins v. Children's Hospital, 261 U.S. 525 (1923), the Supreme Court ruled that federal minimum wage legislation for women was an unconstitutional infringement of liberty of contract, as protected by the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. Adkins was eventually overturned in the 1937 decision West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish.

Citation style[edit]

Under 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.

Bluebook citation style is used for case names, citations, and jurisdictions.

List of cases in volume 261 U.S.[edit]

Case Name Page and year Opinion of the Court Concurring opinion(s) Dissenting opinion(s) Lower Court Disposition
Gorham Manufacturing Company v. Wendell 1 (1923) Taft none none S.D.N.Y. motions granted
Vandenburgh v. Truscon Steel Company 6 (1923) Taft none none 6th Cir. affirmed
Concrete Steel Company v. Vendenburgh 16 (1923) Taft none none 2d Cir. reversed
Charles Nelson Company v. United States 17 (1923) Taft none none Ct. Cl. affirmed
Crown Die and Tool Company v. Nye Tool and Machine Works 24 (1923) Taft none none 7th Cir. reversed
Eibel Process Company v. Minnesota and Ontario Paper Company 45 (1923) Taft none none 1st Cir. reversed
Pennsylvania Railroad Company v. United States Railroad Labor Board 72 (1923) Taft none none 7th Cir. affirmed
Moore v. Dempsey 86 (1923) Holmes none McReynolds E.D. Ark. reversed
Diaz v. Gonzalez 102 (1923) Holmes none none 1st Cir. reversed
United States Grain Corporation v. Phillips 106 (1923) Holmes none none 2d Cir. reversed
Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Company 114 (1923) VanDevanter none none Ind. dismissed
Great Northern Railroad Company v. Steinke 119 (1923) VanDevanter none none N.D. reversed
Kansas City Southern Railway Company v. Wolf 133 (1923) McReynolds none none 8th Cir. reversed
Minnesota Commercial Men's Association v. Benn 140 (1923) McReynolds none none Minn. reversed
United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation v. Sullivan 146 (1923) McReynolds none none Pa. Super. Ct. dismissed
Durham Public Service Company v. City of Durham 149 (1923) McReynolds none none N.C. affirmed
Valley Farms Company of Yonkers v. Westchester County 155 (1923) McReynolds none none N.Y. Sup. Ct. affirmed
Douglas v. Noble 165 (1923) Brandeis none none W.D. Wash. reversed
Bank of America v. Whitney Central National Bank 171 (1923) Brandeis none none S.D.N.Y. affirmed
Lumiere v. Mae Edna Wilder, Inc. 174 (1923) Brandeis none none S.D.N.Y. affirmed
Price Fire and Water Proofing Company v. United States 179 (1923) Brandeis none none Ct. Cl. affirmed
New England Divisions Case 184 (1923) Brandeis none none S.D.N.Y. affirmed
United States v. Thind 204 (1923) Sutherland none none 9th Cir. certification
Brownlow v. Schwartz 216 (1923) Sutherland none none D.C. Cir. reversed
Cramer v. United States 219 (1923) Sutherland none none 9th Cir. reversed
Columbia Railway, Gas and Electric Company v. South Carolina 236 (1923) Sutherland none none S.C. reversed
Randall v. Tippecanoe County 252 (1923) Sutherland none none Ind. dismissed
United States v. Oklahoma 253 (1923) Butler none none original dismissed
Western and Atlantic Railroad v. Railroad Commission of Georgia 264 (1923) Butler none none N.D. Ga. order vacated
Paducah v. Paducah Railroad Company 267 (1923) Butler none none W.D. Ky. affirmed
Munter v. Weil Corset Company, Inc. 276 (1923) McKenna none none D. Conn. reversed
Davis v. Dantzler Lumber Company 280 (1923) McKenna none none Miss. reversed
Oklahoma Natural Gas Company v. Russell 290 (1923) Holmes none none W.D. Okla. reversed
United States v. Benedict 294 (1923) McReynolds none none 2d Cir. affirmed
Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company v. United States 299 (1923) Butler none none 4th Cir. reversed
Pothier v. Rodman 307 (1923) Taft none none D.R.I. docketing denied
City of New York v. New York Telephone Company 312 (1923) Taft none none S.D.N.Y. dismissed
United States v. Allen 317 (1923) McKenna none none Ct. Cl. affirmed
United States v. Moran 321 (1923) McKenna none none Ct. Cl. affirmed
Ewen v. American Fidelity Company 322 (1923) Holmes none none 2d Cir. reversed
Fox Film Corporation v. Knowles 326 (1923) Holmes none none 2d Cir. reversed
Pullman Company v. Richardson 330 (1923) VanDevanter none none Cal. affirmed
Oklahoma v. Texas 340 (1923) per curiam none none original boundary set
Work v. United States ex rel. Mosier 352 (1923) Taft none none D.C. Cir. reversed
United States v. Rider 363 (1923) Taft none none Ct. Cl. reversed
St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Company v. Public Service Commission of Missouri 369 (1923) McKenna none none Mo. reversed
Federal Land Bank of New Orleans v. Crosland 374 (1923) Holmes none none Ala. reversed
Arkansas Natural Gas Company v. Arkansas Railroad Commission 379 (1923) Sutherland none none E.D. Ark. affirmed
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company v. United States 385 (1923) Sanford none none Ct. Cl. affirmed
Layne and Bowler Corporation v. Western Well Works, Inc. 387 (1923) Taft none none 9th Cir. dismissed
Hallanan v. Eureka Pipe Line Company 393 (1923) Taft none none W. Va. dismissed
Hallanan v. United Fuel Gas Company 398 (1923) Taft none none W. Va. dismissed
Toledo Scale Company v. Computing Scale Company 399 (1923) Taft none none 7th Cir. affirmed
Keller v. Potomac Electric Power Company 428 (1923) Taft none none D.C. Cir. dismissed
Page Company v. Macdonald 446 (1923) McKenna none none D. Mass. affirmed
Phipps v. Cleveland Refining Company 449 (1923) McKenna none none S.D. Ohio affirmed
Gardner v. Chicago Title and Trust Company 453 (1923) Holmes none none 7th Cir. reversed
Wabash Railroad Company v. Elliott 457 (1923) VanDevanter none none Mo. Ct. App. reversed
Federal Trade Commission v. Sinclair Refining Company 463 (1923) McReynolds none none multiple affirmed
Hartford Life Insurance Company v. Douds 476 (1923) McReynolds none none Ohio affirmed
Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company v. Kierejewski 479 (1923) McReynolds none none W.D.N.Y. affirmed
Thomas v. Kansas City Southern Railway Company 481 (1923) Brandeis none none 8th Cir. affirmed
Robinson v. United States 486 (1923) Brandeis none none Ct. Cl. affirmed
Pusey and Jones Company v. Hanssen 491 (1923) Brandeis none none 3d Cir. reversed
Omnia Commercial Company, Inc. v. United States 502 (1923) Sutherland none none Ct. Cl. affirmed
Russell Motor Car Company v. United States 514 (1923) Sutherland none none Ct. Cl. affirmed
Adkins v. Children's Hospital 525 (1923) Sutherland none Taft; Holmes D.C. Cir. affirmed
Watkins v. Sedberry 571 (1923) Butler none none 6th Cir. reversed
Hanson Lumber Company, Ltd. v. United States 581 (1923) Butler none none 5th Cir. affirmed
New York ex rel. Doyle v. Atwell 590 (1923) Sanford none none N.Y. Sup. Ct. dismissed
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company v. United States 592 (1923) Sanford none none Ct. Cl. affirmed
Hodges v. Snyder 600 (1923) Sanford none none Kingsbury County Cir. Ct. affirmed

Notes and references[edit]

  1. ^ "Supreme Court Research Guide". Georgetown Law Library. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  2. ^ Harrison Bennett, "The Phillips County Riot Cases", Chicken Bones: A Journal, 2012 (article first published as "Justice on Trial: The Phillips County Riot Cases", December 1999, Arkansas State University.

External links[edit]