Plains Commerce Bank v. Long Family Land & Cattle Co., 554 U. S. 2 ___ (2008)
R066; No. 07-411; 6/25/08. The Tribal Court did not have jurisdiction to adjudicate a
discrimination claim concerning a non-Indian bank s sale of reservation land that it owned
in fee simple.
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Giles v. California, 554 U. S. 2 ___ (2008)
R067; No. 07-6053; 6/25/08. The California Supreme Court s theory of forfeiture by wrongdoing
is not an exception to the Sixth Amendment s confrontation requirement because it was not an
exception established at the founding.
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Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U. S. 2 ___ (2008)
R068; No. 07-343; 6/25/08. The Eighth Amendment s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause bars
Louisiana from imposing the death penalty for the rape of a child where the crime did not result,
and was not intended to result, in the victim s death.
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Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker, 554 U. S. 2 ___ (2008)
R069; No. 07-219; 6/25/08. The $2.5 billion punitive damages award against Exxon for its oil
spill off Alaska was excessive as a matter of maritime common law; in the circumstances of this case,
the award should be limited to an amount equal to compensatory damages, here, $507.5 million.
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Morgan Stanley Capital Group Inc. v. Public Util. Dist. No. 1 of Snohomish Cty., 554 U. S. 2 ___ (2008)
R070; No. 06-1457; 6/26/08. In evaluating the contracts at issue, the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission had to apply the Mobile-Sierra presumption, which requires FERC to presume that
the electricity rate set in a freely negotiated wholesale-energy contract is just and reasonable
under the Federal Power Act, absent serious harm to the public interest; the standard for a buyer's
rate-increase challenge is the same as for a seller s challenge; FERC s analysis of the instant
rate challenge was flawed and incomplete, and its orders unclear.
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District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U. S. 2 ___ (2008)
R071; No. 07-290; 6/26/08. The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm
unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as
self-defense within the home. Accordingly, the D. C. law at issue violates the Second Amendment
insofar as it totally bans handgun possession in the home and requires that any firearm in the home
be disassembled or bound by a trigger lock, thus making it impossible for citizens to use arms for
the core lawful purpose of self-defense.
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Davis v. Federal Election Comm’n, 554 U. S. 2 ___ (2008)
R072; No. 07-320; 6/26/08. Section 319 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 which (a)
increases the contribution and coordinated expenditure limits, which would otherwise apply to a
candidate for a House of Representatives seat, when his opponent spends more than $350,000 in
personal funds on the campaign, and (b) requires the self-financing candidate to make certain
disclosures violates the First Amendment.
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Medellín v. Texas, 554 U. S. 2 ___ (2008) (per curiam)
R073; No. 06-984; 8/5/08. Petitioner s application to recall and stay the mandate in
Medell n v. Texas, 552 U. S. ___ (2008), application for stay of execution, and
petition for writ of habeas corpus are denied.
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