Powell v. Alabama

Mon, 10 Oct 1932 13:00:00 +0000

Location

Jackson County Circuit Court

102 E. Laurel Street Scottsboro AL 35768

Scottsboro, AL 35768

United States

34° 40' 22.188" N, 86° 2' 5.0352" W

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Case Basics

Docket No.

Petitioner

Powell

Respondent

Alabama

Heard By

Hughes Court (1932-1937)

Decided By

Hughes Court (1932-1937)

Opinion

287 U.S. 45 (1932)

Argued

Monday, October 10, 1932

Decided

Monday, November 7, 1932

Facts of the Case

Nine black youths -- young, ignorant, and illiterate -- were accused of raping two white women. Alabama officials sprinted through the legal proceedings: a total of three trials took one day and all nine were sentenced to death. Alabama law required the appointment of counsel in capital cases, but the attorneys did not consult with their clients and had done little more than appear to represent them at the trial. This case was decided together with Patterson v. Alabama and Weems v. Alabama.

Question

Did the trials violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?

Conclusion

Yes. The Court held that the trials denied due process because the defendants were not given reasonable time and opportunity to secure counsel in their defense. Though Justice George Sutherland did not rest the Court holding on the right-to-counsel guarantee of the Sixth Amendment, he repeatedly implicated that guarantee. This case was an early example of national constitutional protection in the field of criminal justice.

Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois v. United States

jgoldman — Fri, 17 Feb 1933 13:00:00 +0000

Location

University of Illinois

600 S Gregory St Urbana IL 61801

Urbana, IL 61801

United States

40° 6' 27.0756" N, 88° 13' 37.8084" W

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Case Basics

Docket No.

538

Petitioner

Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Petitioner Type

Petitioner

Respondent

United States

Respondent Type

Respondent

Heard By

Hughes Court (1932-1937)

Decided By

Hughes Court (1932-1937)

Opinion

289 U.S. 48 (1933)

Argued

Friday, February 17, 1933

Decided

Monday, March 20, 1933

Advocates

Sveinbjorn Johnson (argued the cause for the petitioner)

Thomas D. Thacher (Solicitor General, Department of Justice, argued the cause for the United States)

Facts of the Case

The University of Illinois imported scientific equipment for educational user and, under protest, was required to pay tariffs on the equipment under the Tariff Act of 1922. Arguing that the tariff was a tax that the university, as an institution serving an instrumentality of a state, should be exempt from paying, the university challenged the tariff before the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals. The court rejected the claim, asserting that the act was an exercise of Congress' authority to regulate commerce under Article I, section 8 of the Constitution, rather than a tax.

Question

Should the University of Illinois be required to pay tariffs required by the Tariff Act of 1922 on equipment it imports for educational purposes?

Conclusion

Yes. In a unanimous opinion authored by Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, the Court read the act as an exercise of Congress' power under the Commerce Clause. The Chief Justice noted that, while the laying of duties is a tax, and the power to tax and the power to regulate commerce are distinct, "it does not follow that duties may not be imposed in the exercise of the power to regulate commerce." If Congress asserts that it is exercising its power under the Commerce Clause, the Court concluded, "the judicial department may not attempt in its own conception of policy to distribute the duties thus fixed by allocating some of them to the…power to regulate commerce and others to…the taxing power." Therefore, because "no State by virtue of any interest of its own would be entitled to override" Congress' power under the Commerce Clause, the tariff may be levied.

Cases - 1932 term

Powell v. Alabama

Location

Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois v. United States

Location