---
aliases:
- Supreme Court of the United States
- Supreme Court
- U.S. Supreme Court
- United States Supreme Court
- SCOTUS
category: U.S. Government
created: 2026-10-15
location: Washington, D.C.
relations:
- end: 1969-05-14
  fn: 52
  reverse: true
  role: Associate Justice
  start: 1965-10-04
  type: member_of
  with: '[[Abe Fortas]]'
- fn: 55
  reverse: true
  role: Associate Justice, later Chief Justice
  start: 1971-12-15
  type: member_of
  with: '[[William Rehnquist]]'
- fn: 49
  reverse: true
  role: Associate Justice
  start: 2018-10-06
  type: member_of
  with: '[[Brett Kavanaugh]]'
- fn: 10
  reverse: true
  start: 1981-06-29
  type: subject_of
  with: '[[Philip Agee]]'
- fn: 45
  reverse: true
  start: 2025-10-06
  type: subject_of
  with: '[[Ghislaine Maxwell]]'
- fn: 8
  reverse: true
  role: counsel for the petitioner Rudolf Abel
  start: 1960-03-28
  type: represented
  with: '[[James B. Donovan]]'
start: 1790-02-01
summary: The highest federal court, whose rulings on state secrets, CIA secrecy agreements,
  LSD tests on soldiers, wiretaps and the Epstein litigation recur across the vault.
tags:
- Organization
- USGovernment
- SupremeCourt
- Judiciary
- Secrecy
- StateSecrets
- Wiretaps
- MKUltra
- BankingLaw
- Antitrust
- ObscenityLaw
- TribalGaming
- JudicialNominations
- LeonardLeo
- ClarenceThomas
- AbeFortas
- DOGE
- Epstein
title: Supreme Court of the United States
updated: 2026-10-15
---

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court of the federal judiciary, established by Article III of the Constitution and sitting in Washington, D.C.[^1]

### State secrets and secret agents

The Court's first state secrets decision came out of the Civil War. In Totten v. United States (1876), Justice Stephen Johnson Field wrote for the Court that a man hired by President Abraham Lincoln in July 1861 to enter the Confederate lines, report troop positions and obtain plans of fortifications could not sue for his pay, because "public policy forbids the maintenance of any suit in a court of justice, the trial of which would inevitably lead to the disclosure of matters which the law itself regards as confidential." The opinion treated the existence of a secret-service contract as "itself a fact not to be disclosed."[^2]

On March 9, 1953 the Court decided United States v. Reynolds, an action under the Federal Tort Claims Act arising from the crash of a B-29 at Waycross, Georgia on October 6, 1948. The aircraft "had taken flight for the purpose of testing secret electronic equipment" with four civilian observers aboard; three of the four and six of the nine crew members died. Plaintiffs sought the Air Force's accident report and the crew statements. The Secretary of the Air Force filed a formal claim of privilege, and Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson held for the Court that the privilege against revealing military secrets was well established and that the claim could prevail without the judge examining the report.[^3] In 2000 a daughter of one of the dead observers learned that the Air Force had declassified documents on aircraft accidents, ordered the report on the Waycross crash, and brought a claim of fraud on the court. The Third Circuit rejected the claim on September 22, 2005, noting that the declassified accident report disclosed that the mission was run by the 3150th Electronics Squadron and required an aircraft capable of operating at altitudes of 20,000 feet and above.[^4]

On March 2, 2005 Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote for the Court in Tenet v. Doe that the rule of Totten barred a suit by two alleged former Cold War spies, a husband and wife who used fictitious names. The husband was described as a high-ranking diplomat of a country then considered an enemy; according to the complaint, [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) agents persuaded the couple to remain at their posts and conduct espionage in return for a promise to "arrange for travel to the United States and ensure financial and personal security for life." The Court reversed the Ninth Circuit.[^5]

On March 3, 2022 the Court reversed the Ninth Circuit in United States v. Zubaydah, the case brought by Abu Zubaydah (docketed as United States v. Husayn). Justice Stephen Breyer delivered the opinion; Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, dissented, and Justice Elena Kagan concurred in part and dissented in part.[^6] The next day, in FBI v. Fazaga, Justice Samuel Alito wrote for a unanimous Court that section 1806(f) of the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act](/concepts/foreign-intelligence-surveillance-act/) does not displace the state secrets privilege. The respondents were three members of Southern California Muslim communities who alleged that the [Federal Bureau of Investigation](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/) directed a confidential informant to gather information on Muslims indiscriminately, including "hundreds of hours of video recordings" made inside mosques, homes and other private locations.[^7]

### Intelligence officers and the Court

On March 28, 1960 the Court affirmed, five to four, the espionage conviction of Rudolf Abel in Abel v. United States.[^8] Justice Felix Frankfurter wrote for the majority. James B. Donovan argued for the petitioner. Justice William J. Brennan dissented, joined by Chief Justice Earl Warren, Hugo Black and William O. Douglas. Abel was exchanged for the U-2 pilot [Francis Gary Powers](/people/francis-gary-powers/) at the Glienicke Bridge in Berlin on February 10, 1962, after Powers's aircraft was shot down over the Soviet Union in May 1960; the CIA's account states that Donovan, who had fought the death sentence in the hope of such an exchange, negotiated the trade with the CIA lawyer Milan Miskovsky.[^9]

On June 29, 1981 the Court upheld the State Department's revocation of the passport of former CIA officer [Philip Agee](/people/philip-agee/) in Haig v. Agee.[^10] Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote the opinion and Justice Harry Blackmun concurred. The opinion recorded the Secretary's finding that Agee's activities "were causing or were likely to cause serious damage to the national security or foreign policy of the United States." Two incidents were described in the opinion. In July 1980, two days after a press conference in [Jamaica](/places/jamaica/) at which Agee's principal collaborator identified Richard Kinsman as CIA chief of station there, Kinsman's house "was strafed with automatic gunfire." Four days after the same press conference, three men approached the home of another man identified as an agency officer, and gunfire was exchanged. The opinion also recited Government affidavits showing that during the 1979 seizure of the American Embassy in [Iran](/places/iran/), Agee "made contact with the captors, urged them to demand certain CIA documents, and offered to travel to Iran to analyze the documents."[^10]

On June 22, 1981 the Court issued a per curiam order in Kissinger v. Halperin, a damages action arising from wiretaps. The judgment as to [Henry A. Kissinger](/people/henry-a-kissinger/), [Richard Nixon](/people/richard-nixon/) and [John N. Mitchell](/people/john-n-mitchell/) was affirmed by an equally divided Court, and the writ of certiorari as to H. R. Haldeman was dismissed as improvidently granted.[^11]

### Secrecy agreements and the press

In 1972 the Fourth Circuit decided United States v. Marchetti, the case of former CIA officer [Victor Marchetti](/people/victor-marchetti/), whose secrecy agreement had been enforced by a district court order requiring him to submit writings about the agency for review thirty days before release. Chief Judge Clement Haynsworth wrote that the court would "affirm the substance of the decision below, limiting the order, however to the language of the secrecy agreement Marchetti signed when he joined the Agency," and found the contract "constitutional and otherwise reasonable."[^12] On December 11, 1972 the Supreme Court denied certiorari; Justices Douglas, Brennan and Stewart would have granted it.[^13]

Marchetti and John Marks, a former State Department employee, then wrote a book manuscript that Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. intended to publish. After CIA review, the agency specified 339 deletions, released 114, then 29, then 57 more, and stood on 168. The Fourth Circuit, in Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. v. Colby, decided February 7, 1975, vacated the district court judgment in part and remanded, holding that the burden of proving classification had been set "far too stringent" and adding the element of classifiability.[^14] On May 27, 1975 the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Knopf v. Colby, Justice Douglas dissenting from the denial.[^15] The same day [William Colby](/people/william-colby/) told a White House meeting attended by [Gerald R. Ford](/people/gerald-r-ford/), two days after [Seymour Hersh](/people/seymour-hersh/)'s story in the [New York Times](/organizations/new-york-times/) about American submarine intercept missions in Soviet waters, that "The Supreme Court refusal to review the Marchetti case is good news." Colby added that in the Marchetti case "we had to prove the material was classified."[^16]

On February 19, 1980 the Court decided Snepp v. United States per curiam. The former CIA officer Frank Snepp had published a book about the agency in South Vietnam without submitting it for prepublication review, as his 1968 employment agreement required; the Government conceded the book contained no classified, nonpublic material. The Court imposed a constructive trust on his profits, holding that he had breached a fiduciary obligation. Justice John Paul Stevens, joined by Justices Brennan and Thurgood Marshall, dissented.[^17]

On April 16, 1985 Chief Justice Burger wrote for the Court in Central Intelligence Agency v. Sims, which concerned a [Freedom of Information Act](/events/freedom-of-information-act/) request filed on August 22, 1977 by an attorney, John C. Sims, and Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe of the Public Citizen Health Research Group for the grant proposals, contracts and researcher names of [MKULTRA](/programs/project-mkultra/). The opinion describes MKULTRA as a project financed between 1953 and 1966 for "the research and development of chemical, biological, and radiological materials capable of employment in clandestine operations to control human behavior," made up of 149 subprojects contracted out to universities, research foundations and similar institutions, with at least 80 institutions and 185 private researchers participating. The agency released the proposals and contracts but withheld the names of all individual researchers and 21 institutions under its duty to protect intelligence sources. The Court held that the Director was authorized to withhold the identities of the individual researchers and need not disclose their institutional affiliations. The opinion also records that during the congressional inquiries Director [Stansfield Turner](/people/stansfield-turner/) notified the 80 institutions at which MKULTRA research had been conducted, many of which had not previously been advised of their involvement. Justices Marshall and Brennan concurred in the result.[^18]

On June 30, 1971 the Court decided New York Times Co. v. United States, the Pentagon Papers case, per curiam, refusing to enjoin the New York Times and the [Washington Post](/organizations/washington-post/) from publishing a classified study titled "History of U. S. Decision-Making Process on Viet Nam Policy." The Court stated that any system of prior restraints "comes to this Court bearing a heavy presumption against its constitutional validity" and that the Government had not carried its burden. Justices Black, Douglas, Brennan, Potter Stewart, Byron White and Marshall wrote separately in concurrence; Chief Justice Burger, Justice Blackmun and Justice Harlan dissented.[^19]

### Human experimentation

On June 25, 1987 the Court decided United States v. Stanley, in an opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia. In February 1958 an Army master sergeant at Fort Knox volunteered for what was described as a program to test protective clothing against chemical warfare, was sent to the Army's Chemical Warfare Laboratories at [Aberdeen Proving Ground](/places/aberdeen-proving-ground/), and there was "secretly administered doses of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)" four times in one month. On December 10, 1975 the Army wrote to him soliciting cooperation in a study of the long-term effects of LSD on "volunteers who participated" in the 1958 tests, the Government's first notification that he had been given the drug. The Court held that no Bivens damages remedy was available for injuries arising out of activity incident to military service, relying on Feres v. United States (1950), in which Justice Robert H. Jackson had held that the Government is not liable under the Federal Tort Claims Act for injuries to servicemen arising out of activity incident to service. Justice Brennan, joined by Justice Marshall, wrote that "the Government of the United States treated thousands of its citizens as though they were laboratory animals, dosing them with this dangerous drug without their consent," and placed the case beside the Nuremberg medical trials. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, dissenting separately, wrote that "Soldiers ought not be asked to defend a Constitution indifferent to their essential human dignity."[^20][^21]

### Wiretaps and executive immunity

On June 19, 1972 the Court decided United States v. United States District Court (the Keith case) in an opinion by Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr., holding that "prior judicial approval is required for the type of domestic security surveillance involved in this case." The opinion recorded that Presidents had for more than a quarter-century authorized such surveillance without guidance from Congress or a decision of the Court, and that the surveillance there was authorized by the Attorney General.[^22]

On June 19, 1985 the Court decided Mitchell v. Forsyth, which arose from a warrantless wiretap on the telephone of William Davidon, a Haverford College physics professor, authorized by Attorney General John Mitchell on November 6, 1970. Justice Byron White wrote for the Court that the Attorney General was not absolutely immune from damages for his national security functions, and that he was entitled to qualified immunity because the law on warrantless domestic security wiretaps was not clearly established in 1970. The opinion records that during the installation of the tap the Government intercepted three conversations between Davidon and Keith Forsyth, the respondent.[^23]

The [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court](/organizations/foreign-intelligence-surveillance-court/) has a route to the Court built into its statute. If the court of review upholds the denial of a government application, "on petition of the United States for a writ of certiorari, the record shall be transmitted under seal to the Supreme Court, which shall have jurisdiction to review such decision." The same section directs the Chief Justice to set security measures for the court's records "in consultation with the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence."[^24]

On February 26, 2013 the Court decided, five to four, Clapper v. Amnesty International USA. Justice Alito held that attorneys and organizations whose work required international communications could not challenge section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (50 U.S.C. 1881a) because their fear of surveillance was too speculative to meet the requirement that threatened injury be "certainly impending." Justice Breyer dissented.[^25]

### Detention and military commissions

On June 28, 2004 the Court decided two cases on the detention of people held after September 11, 2001. In Hamdi v. Rumsfeld Justice O'Connor announced the judgment, joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justices Anthony Kennedy and Breyer, holding that "due process demands that a citizen held in the United States as an enemy combatant be given a meaningful opportunity to contest the factual basis for that detention before a neutral decisionmaker." In Rasul v. Bush Justice Stevens held that United States courts have jurisdiction to consider challenges to the detention of foreign nationals held at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.[^26][^27] On June 12, 2008, in Boumediene v. Bush, Justice Kennedy wrote for a five-justice majority that the detainees at Guantanamo have the constitutional privilege of habeas corpus and that section 7 of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 "operates as an unconstitutional suspension of the writ."[^28]

On June 29, 2006 the Court decided Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, a challenge by the Guantanamo detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan to the military commission convened to try him. Justice Stevens wrote that "the military commission convened to try Hamdan lacks power to proceed because its structure and procedures violate both the UCMJ and the Geneva Conventions."[^29] The named respondent was Secretary of Defense [Donald Rumsfeld](/people/donald-rumsfeld/).

### Antitrust and the press

In 1911 the Court, in an opinion by Chief Justice Edward Douglass White, ordered the dissolution of [Standard Oil](/organizations/standard-oil/), the petroleum combination founded by John D. Rockefeller, under the Sherman Antitrust Act.[^30]

On June 18, 1945 the Court decided Associated Press v. United States. Justice Hugo Black wrote that "[t]he publishers of more than 1200 newspapers are members of the Associated Press (AP)." The by-laws, which let members block non-member competitors from membership, had been charged as a violation of the Sherman Act, and the Court affirmed the judgment in the case.[^31]

### Banking claims and antitrust immunity

On April 25, 1938 the Court decided Guaranty Trust Co. of New York v. United States, a suit by the United States as assignee of Russian Soviet claims against [Guaranty Trust Company of New York](/organizations/morgan-guaranty-trust/). The assignment, made on November 16, 1933 by the Russian Soviet Government to the United States, was the basis of the government's claim. Justice Harlan Fiske Stone held that the six-year New York statute of limitations applied, and the Court reversed the [Second Circuit](/organizations/united-states-court-of-appeals-for-the-second-circuit/). John W. Davis argued for the bank.[^32]

On January 10, 1973 the Court, in an opinion by Justice William O. Douglas, reversed the Court of Appeals in Hughes Tool Co. v. Trans World Airlines. The Court held that the transactions TWA challenged as antitrust violations were "under the control and surveillance" of the Civil Aeronautics Board and had immunity from the antitrust laws under sections 408 and 414 of the Federal Aviation Act. The complaint alleged damages suffered by Trans World Airlines, and the defendants included Hughes Tool Company, which [Howard Hughes](/people/howard-hughes/) controlled.[^33]

### Searches of sealed luggage

On June 21, 1977 the Court decided United States v. Chadwick, in an opinion by Chief Justice Burger, holding that respondents were entitled to the protection of the Warrant Clause "before their privacy interests in the contents of the footlocker were invaded." The respondents had been arrested in Boston by federal narcotics agents after a train trip from San Diego, and the double-locked footlocker had been loaded in the trunk of their car. [Martin Weinberg](/people/martin-weinberg/), of Boston, argued for the respondents.[^34]

### Searches of Bahamian bank records

On June 23, 1980 the Court decided United States v. Payner, in an opinion by Justice Powell, which framed the question as "whether the District Court properly suppressed the fruits of an unlawful search that did not invade the respondent's Fourth Amendment rights." The respondent, Jack Payner, had been indicted for falsely denying that he maintained a foreign bank account, and the account was at the [Castle Bank and Trust](/organizations/castle-bank-and-trust/) Company of Nassau, Bahama Islands. The opinion recited the background of the investigation: "In 1965, the [Internal Revenue Service](/organizations/internal-revenue-service/) launched an investigation into the financial activities of American citizens in the Bahamas. The project, known as '[Operation Trade Winds](/programs/operation-tradewinds/),' was headquartered in Jacksonville."[^35] The Court reversed. Chief Justice Burger concurred, writing that the decision "should not be read as condoning the conduct of the IRS 'private investigators' as disclosed by this record." Justice Marshall, joined by Justices Brennan and Blackmun, dissented, writing that the government "made a conscious decision to forgo any opportunity to prosecute Wolstencroft in order to obtain illegally the evidence against Payner and others."[^35]

### Loyalty riders and bills of attainder

On June 3, 1946 the Court decided United States v. Lovett, in an opinion by Justice Black. The case concerned Section 304 of an appropriations act, which, according to counsel for Congress, "merely cut off respondents' pay." The respondents included [Goodwin Watson](/people/goodwin-watson/), whom a congressional subcommittee had found guilty of "subversive activity." Justice Black held that "Section 304 is a bill of attainder against these respondents involving a use of power which the Constitution unequivocally declares Congress can never exercise."[^36]

### Obscenity and child sexual abuse material

On June 21, 1973 Chief Justice Burger wrote the Court's opinion in Miller v. California, the decision that set the modern test for obscenity.[^37] On July 2, 1982 the Court decided New York v. Ferber, upholding a New York statute against a First Amendment challenge as applied to distributors of films of children. Justice Byron White wrote that the Miller standard "for determining what is legally obscene is not a satisfactory solution to the child pornography problem," and treated child pornography as a category to be judged on its own terms.[^38]

On April 16, 2002 the Court decided Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, in an opinion by Justice Kennedy. It affirmed the Ninth Circuit's ruling that the provisions of the Child Pornography Prevention Act reaching sexually explicit images that "appear to be" of minors, although produced without minors, were overbroad.[^39] The subject is treated in more detail at [Child sexual abuse material](/concepts/child-sexual-abuse-material/).

### Tribal gaming

On February 25, 1987 the Court decided California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, in an opinion by Justice Byron White. The Cabazon and Morongo Bands operated bingo and a card club on their reservations in Riverside County, California. The opinion recorded that the card club offered "draw poker and other card games," and that "[t]he gambling games are open to the public and are played predominantly by non-Indians coming onto the reservations."[^40] The card room at the [Cabazon Indian Casino](/organizations/cabazon-indian-casino/) was managed by [Rocco Zangari](/people/rocco-zangari/) from September 1980 until November 1981.

### Executive records and the Vice President

On June 24, 2004 the Court decided Cheney v. United States District Court for the District of Columbia, in an opinion by Justice Kennedy that vacated and remanded the Court of Appeals' ruling on discovery directed to the Vice President and other senior officials. The discovery concerned the National Energy Policy Development Group, which [Dick Cheney](/people/dick-cheney/) led.[^41]

On June 6, 2025 the Court granted a stay of a preliminary injunction against the Social Security Administration pending appeal and any certiorari petition. Justice Kagan would have denied the application. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Justice Sotomayor, dissented. The injunction had concerned access to agency records by members of the [Department of Government Efficiency](/organizations/department-of-government-efficiency/) team.[^42]

### Epstein and the victims' litigation

On February 22, 2022 the Court denied a petition for certiorari, No. 21-351, brought by a victim of [Jeffrey Epstein](/people/jeffrey-epstein/), who challenged the en banc ruling in [In re Wild](/events/doe-v-united-states/).[^43] The en banc Eleventh Circuit ruled seven to four on April 15, 2021 that the [Crime Victims' Rights Act](/concepts/crime-victims-rights-act/) gave the petitioner no freestanding civil action before charges were filed. The majority said it "needn't decide" whether the victims' rights to confer and to fair treatment attached before charges, and the dissenting judges faulted it for that omission.[^44] The dispute arose from the [Epstein non-prosecution agreement](/events/epstein-non-prosecution-agreement/), negotiated by the [Southern District of Florida](/organizations/us-attorneys-office-for-the-southern-district-of-florida/) office.

On April 10, 2025 [Ghislaine Maxwell](/people/ghislaine-maxwell/) filed a petition for certiorari in [United States v. Maxwell](/events/united-states-v-maxwell/), after Justice Sotomayor granted an extension of the filing deadline on January 21, 2025 under Application No. 24A709.[^45] The Court denied the petition on October 6, 2025.[^45]

### Recent decisions

On December 5, 2025 the Court granted certiorari in the case of [Ahmad Abouammo](/people/ahmad-abouammo/), a former Twitter employee convicted in the [Twitter Saudi espionage case](/events/twitter-saudi-espionage-case/), limited to the first question presented. On June 11, 2026 the Court reversed and remanded in a unanimous opinion by Justice Kagan.[^46]

On April 19, 2023 the Court decided Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S. v. United States, the appeal arising from the prosecution of the state-owned Halkbank before [Richard M. Berman](/people/richard-m-berman/) in the Southern District of New York. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the Court, which held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act does not cover criminal cases and affirmed in part, vacated in part and remanded. Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justice Alito, concurred in part and dissented in part, writing that "Today's decision overcomplicates the law for no good reason."[^47]

### Justices and nominations

[Leonard Leo](/people/leonard-leo/), a figure in the Federalist Society, drew up the lists of potential justices that [Donald Trump](/people/donald-trump/) released during the 2016 campaign, and advised Trump on the nominations of Justice Gorsuch, Justice Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.[^48] ProPublica reported that the [Judicial Confirmation Network](/organizations/judicial-crisis-network/), since rebranded as the [Judicial Crisis Network](/organizations/judicial-crisis-network/), gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to a campaign against the Missouri Plan, the state's merit-selection system, that Leo's team had organized.[^48] Kavanaugh's service on the [D.C. Circuit](/organizations/united-states-court-of-appeals-for-the-district-of-columbia-circuit/) ended on October 5, 2018 on his appointment to the Court, and Barrett's service on the Seventh Circuit ended on October 26, 2020 on her appointment to the Court.[^49][^50]

On April 6, 2023 [ProPublica](/organizations/propublica/) reported that "For more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from the Dallas businessman without disclosing them." The reporting described a nine-day trip to Indonesia in June 2019, in which Clarence Thomas and his wife flew on a private jet and then cruised on a superyacht owned by Harlan Crow, and trips to the Bohemian Grove and to Crow's ranch in East Texas.[^51]

On July 28, 1965 President [Lyndon B. Johnson](/people/lyndon-b-johnson/) nominated Abe Fortas to the seat vacated by Arthur Goldberg. The Senate confirmed him on August 11, 1965. On June 26, 1968 Johnson nominated Fortas as Chief Justice; the nomination was withdrawn on October 4, 1968. Fortas's service ended on May 14, 1969 by his resignation.[^52] On May 9, 1969 Life magazine, in an article by William Lambert, reported that on January 3, 1966, three months after Fortas was sworn in, "a check for $20,000 was drawn to him personally on a Jacksonville, Fla. bank account of the Wolfson Family Foundation," the foundation of the financier Louis Wolfson, and that the Securities and Exchange Commission had on March 14, 1966 forwarded to the Justice Department a report recommending criminal prosecution of Wolfson.[^53]

John Marshall Harlan II, later an Associate Justice, sat as a director of the [Pioneer Fund](/organizations/pioneer-fund/) at a board meeting held at 522 Fifth Avenue, New York, at 4:15 p.m. on October 28, 1937, with [Wickliffe Draper](/people/wickliffe-draper/), Malcolm Donald, Harry H. Laughlin and Frederick Osborn also present. The fund's certificate of incorporation had been signed in New York on February 27, 1937 by Draper, Laughlin, Donald, Osborn and Vincent K. Smalley, the first four being the named directors.[^54]

[Ted Cruz](/people/ted-cruz/), later a United States Senator, clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist.[^55]

### Criticism of the Court and its docket

Facts Forum, the organization of [H. L. Hunt](/people/hl-hunt/), circulated ballots that asked "Is the Supreme Court limiting its functions to its Constitutional powers?" and "Should the term of office for members of the U. S. Supreme Court be limited?"; an FBI memorandum in the Hunt file describes the later program "Life Line" as "formerly known as Facts Forum."[^56] In October 1957 Hunt's office asked [J. Edgar Hoover](/people/j-edgar-hoover/) for comments and suggestions on the content of the new program; Hoover replied on November 5 that he could offer none, and Hunt's office afterward sent the director tapes of commentary attacking the Supreme Court.[^56]

A 1981 suit alleged that [Jim Jones](/people/jim-jones/), the leader of [People's Temple](/organizations/peoples-temple/), had been an employee of the CIA from 1963 until his death.[^57] On October 11, 1983 the Supreme Court refused without comment to review the dismissal of the survivors' suit against the CIA, the State Department, the Justice Department and the House of Representatives. The district judge, Stanley Weigel, had dismissed the case after the survivors' attorney failed to inform all defendants that they had been sued, and the Ninth Circuit rejected the attorney's excuses.[^58]

The [Fairness in Media](/organizations/fairness-in-media/) committee petitioned the Federal Communications Commission over Laurence Tisch's purchases of CBS stock, and later petitioned the Court for certiorari in No. 88-388. The Court denied the petition on October 11, 1988.[^59]

[^1]: U.S. Const. art. III, § 1, "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court."
[^2]: *Totten v. United States*, 92 U.S. 105 (1876), opinion of Justice Field. https://static.case.law/us/92/cases/0105-01.json
[^3]: *United States v. Reynolds*, 345 U.S. 1 (1953), decided March 9, 1953; opinion of Chief Justice Vinson. https://static.case.law/us/345/cases/0001-01.json
[^4]: *Herring v. United States*, 424 F.3d 384 (3d Cir. 2005), decided September 22, 2005. https://static.case.law/f3d/424/cases/0384-01.json
[^5]: *Tenet v. Doe*, 544 U.S. 1 (2005), decided March 2, 2005; opinion of Chief Justice Rehnquist. https://static.case.law/us/544/cases/0001-01.json
[^6]: Supreme Court of the United States, docket No. 20-827, *United States v. Husayn (Abu Zubaydah)*, certiorari granted April 26, 2021; argued October 6, 2021; judgment reversed and remanded March 3, 2022 (Breyer, J.; Gorsuch, J., dissenting, joined by Sotomayor, J.); judgment issued April 4, 2022. https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/20-827.html
[^7]: *Federal Bureau of Investigation v. Fazaga*, No. 20-828, argued November 8, 2021, decided March 4, 2022; opinion of Justice Alito for a unanimous Court. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/20-828
[^8]: *Abel v. United States*, 362 U.S. 217 (1960), decided March 28, 1960; opinion of Justice Frankfurter for the Court; Justice Brennan, with whom the Chief Justice, Justice Black and Justice Douglas join, dissenting. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/362/217
[^9]: Central Intelligence Agency, "May Day Over Moscow: The Francis Gary Powers Story," April 29, 2020 (exchange of February 10, 1962 at the Glienicke Bridge; Donovan and Miskovsky). https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/may-day-over-moscow-the-francis-gary-powers-story/
[^10]: *Haig v. Agee*, 453 U.S. 280 (1981), argued January 24, 1981, decided June 29, 1981; opinion of Chief Justice Burger for the Court; Justice Blackmun concurring. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/453/280
[^11]: *Kissinger v. Halperin*, 452 U.S. 713 (1981), per curiam, decided June 22, 1981. https://static.case.law/us/452/cases/0713-01.json
[^12]: *United States v. Marchetti*, 466 F.2d 1309 (4th Cir. 1972), decided September 11, 1972; Haynsworth, C.J. https://static.case.law/f2d/466/cases/1309-01.json
[^13]: *Marchetti v. United States*, 409 U.S. 1063 (1972), certiorari denied December 11, 1972; Mr. Justice Douglas, Mr. Justice Brennan and Mr. Justice Stewart would grant certiorari. https://static.case.law/us/409/cases/1063-04.json
[^14]: *Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. v. Colby*, 509 F.2d 1362 (4th Cir. 1975), Nos. 74-1478 and 74-1479, decided February 7, 1975; Haynsworth, C.J. https://static.case.law/f2d/509/cases/1362-01.json
[^15]: *Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. v. Colby*, 421 U.S. 992 (1975), certiorari denied May 27, 1975; Mr. Justice Douglas would grant certiorari. https://static.case.law/us/421/cases/0992-04.json
[^16]: Memorandum of conversation, May 27, 1975, Ford, Schlesinger, Colby, Rumsfeld, Ingersoll and Scowcroft, National Security Adviser, Memoranda of Conversations, Box 12, Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0314/1553088.pdf
[^17]: *Snepp v. United States*, 444 U.S. 507 (1980), per curiam, decided February 19, 1980, No. 78-1871; Mr. Justice Stevens, with whom Mr. Justice Brennan and Mr. Justice Marshall join, dissenting. https://static.case.law/us/444/cases/0507-01.json
[^18]: *Central Intelligence Agency v. Sims*, 471 U.S. 159 (1985), decided April 16, 1985; opinion of Chief Justice Burger; Justice Marshall, with whom Justice Brennan joins, concurring in the result. https://static.case.law/us/471/cases/0159-01.json
[^19]: *New York Times Co. v. United States*, 403 U.S. 713 (1971), per curiam, decided June 30, 1971. https://static.case.law/us/403/cases/0713-01.json
[^20]: *United States v. Stanley*, 483 U.S. 669 (1987), No. 86-393, decided June 25, 1987; opinion of Justice Scalia; Justice Brennan, with whom Justice Marshall joins, and with whom Justice Stevens joins as to Part III, and Justice O'Connor, each concurring in part and dissenting in part. https://static.case.law/us/483/cases/0669-01.json
[^21]: *Feres v. United States*, 340 U.S. 135 (1950), decided December 4, 1950; opinion of Justice Jackson. https://static.case.law/us/340/cases/0135-01.json
[^22]: *United States v. United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan*, 407 U.S. 297 (1972), No. 70-153, decided June 19, 1972; opinion of Justice Powell. https://static.case.law/us/407/cases/0297-01.json
[^23]: *Mitchell v. Forsyth*, 472 U.S. 511 (1985), argued February 27, 1985, decided June 19, 1985; opinion of Justice White for the Court, including note 3 on the wiretap's installation from late November 1970 to January 6, 1971. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/472/511
[^24]: 50 U.S.C. § 1803(b). https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/1803
[^25]: *Clapper v. Amnesty International USA*, 568 U.S. 398 (2013), No. 11-1025, decided February 26, 2013; opinion of Justice Alito; Justice Breyer dissenting. https://static.case.law/us/568/cases/0398-01.json
[^26]: *Hamdi v. Rumsfeld*, 542 U.S. 507 (2004), No. 03-6696, decided June 28, 2004; plurality opinion of Justice O'Connor. https://static.case.law/us/542/cases/0507-01.json
[^27]: *Rasul v. Bush*, 542 U.S. 466 (2004), No. 03-334, decided June 28, 2004; opinion of Justice Stevens. https://static.case.law/us/542/cases/0466-01.json
[^28]: *Boumediene v. Bush*, 553 U.S. 723 (2008), No. 06-1195, decided June 12, 2008; opinion of Justice Kennedy; Justice Scalia, with whom the Chief Justice, Justice Thomas and Justice Alito join, dissenting. https://static.case.law/us/553/cases/0723-01.json
[^29]: *Hamdan v. Rumsfeld*, 548 U.S. 557 (2006), decided June 29, 2006; Justice Stevens announcing the judgment and delivering the opinion of the Court in relevant part. https://static.case.law/us/548/cases/0557-01.json
[^30]: *Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States*, 221 U.S. 1 (1911); opinion of Chief Justice White. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/221/1
[^31]: *Associated Press v. United States*, 326 U.S. 1 (1945), decided June 18, 1945; opinion of Justice Black for the Court; judgment affirmed. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/326/1
[^32]: *Guaranty Trust Co. of New York v. United States*, 304 U.S. 126 (1938), argued March 28-29, 1938, decided April 25, 1938; opinion of Justice Stone; Mr. John W. Davis for the petitioner. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/304/126
[^33]: *Hughes Tool Co. v. Trans World Airlines, Inc.*, 409 U.S. 363 (1973), decided January 10, 1973; opinion of Justice Douglas for the Court. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/409/363
[^34]: *United States v. Chadwick*, 433 U.S. 1 (1977), argued April 26, 1977, decided June 21, 1977; opinion of Chief Justice Burger for the Court. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/433/1
[^35]: *United States v. Payner*, 447 U.S. 727 (1980), argued February 20, 1980, decided June 23, 1980; opinion of Justice Powell for the Court; Chief Justice Burger concurring; Justice Marshall, with whom Justices Brennan and Blackmun join, dissenting. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/447/727
[^36]: *United States v. Lovett*, 328 U.S. 303 (1946), argued May 3-6, 1946, decided June 3, 1946; opinion of Justice Black for the Court. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/328/303
[^37]: *Miller v. California*, 413 U.S. 15 (1973), decided June 21, 1973; opinion of Chief Justice Burger. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/413/15
[^38]: *New York v. Ferber*, 458 U.S. 747 (1982), decided July 2, 1982; opinion of Justice White for the Court. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/458/747
[^39]: *Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition*, 535 U.S. 234 (2002), decided April 16, 2002; opinion of Justice Kennedy for the Court; judgment of the Ninth Circuit, 198 F.3d 1083, affirmed. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/535/234
[^40]: *California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians*, 480 U.S. 202 (1987), argued December 9, 1986, decided February 25, 1987; opinion of Justice White for the Court. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/480/202
[^41]: *Cheney v. United States District Court for the District of Columbia*, 542 U.S. 367 (2004), decided June 24, 2004; opinion of Justice Kennedy for the Court; judgment of the Court of Appeals, 334 F.3d 1096, vacated and remanded. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/542/367
[^42]: Supreme Court of the United States, docket No. 24A1063, *Social Security Administration v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees*, application for stay granted June 6, 2025; Justice Kagan would deny; Justice Jackson, with whom Justice Sotomayor joins, dissenting. https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/24a1063.html
[^43]: Supreme Court of the United States, docket No. 21-351, petition for certiorari denied February 22, 2022 (docketed September 3, 2021; lower court No. 19-13843). https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/21-351.html
[^44]: *In re Wild*, No. 19-13843, 994 F.3d 1244 (11th Cir. 2021) (en banc), decided April 15, 2021; dissenting opinions by Judges Branch, Martin, Jill Pryor and Hull. https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201913843.enb.pdf
[^45]: Supreme Court of the United States, docket No. 24-1073, *Maxwell v. United States*, with Application No. 24A709 (extension granted January 21, 2025; petition filed April 10, 2025; petition denied October 6, 2025). https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/24-1073.html
[^46]: Supreme Court of the United States, docket No. 25-5146, *Abouammo v. United States*, certiorari granted December 5, 2025 limited to Question 1; argued; judgment reversed and case remanded June 11, 2026, Justice Kagan for a unanimous Court. https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/25-5146.html
[^47]: *Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S. v. United States*, 598 U.S. 264 (2023), No. 21-1450, argued January 17, 2023, decided April 19, 2023 (Kavanaugh, J., for the Court, in which Roberts, C.J., and Thomas, Sotomayor, Kagan, Barrett and Jackson, JJ., joined; Gorsuch, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part, joined by Alito, J.). https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/598us1r13_3e04.pdf
[^48]: Andy Kroll, Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz, "We Don't Talk About Leonard: The Man Behind the Right's Supreme Court Supermajority," *ProPublica*, October 11, 2023. https://www.propublica.org/article/we-dont-talk-about-leonard-leo-supreme-court-supermajority
[^49]: Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, "Kavanaugh, Brett M." https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/kavanaugh-brett-m
[^50]: Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, "Barrett, Amy Coney." https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/barrett-amy-coney
[^51]: Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski, "Clarence Thomas Secretly Accepted Luxury Trips From GOP Donor," *ProPublica*, April 6, 2023. https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow
[^52]: Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, "Fortas, Abe." Nominated by Lyndon B. Johnson July 28, 1965; confirmed August 11, 1965; nomination as Chief Justice June 26, 1968, withdrawn October 4, 1968; service terminated May 14, 1969 by resignation. https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/fortas-abe
[^53]: William Lambert, "The Justice and the Stock Manipulator," *Life*, May 9, 1969 (excerpts reproduced at https://muckrakerfarm.com/1969/05/justice-stock-manipulator/).
[^54]: The Pioneer Fund, Inc., Certificate of Incorporation, February 27, 1937, and Minutes of a meeting of the Board of Directors held October 28, 1937, as reproduced by the Institute for the Study of Academic Racism. https://web.archive.org/web/20001001235059/http://www.ferris.edu/isar/Institut/pioneer/pfund.htm and https://web.archive.org/web/2001/http://www.ferris.edu/ISAR/Institut/pioneer/minutes.htm
[^55]: Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, "Rehnquist, William H." Commission issued December 15, 1971. https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/rehnquist-william-hubbs
[^56]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Headquarters file on H.L. Hunt, parts 1 and 2 (FOIA release): Facts Forum ballots and FBI memorandum on "Life Line." https://archive.org/details/H.L.Hunt and https://archive.org/details/foia_Hunt_H.L.-HQ-2
[^57]: "Rev. Jones: Was CIA Agent, Suit Alleges," UPI, October 15, 1981, as filed in CIA Reading Room document CIA-RDP99-00498R000200020030-8. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp99-00498r000200020030-8
[^58]: Spencer Sherman, "Peoples Temple Survivors Lose Appeal," UPI, October 11, 1983. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/10/11/Peoples-temple-survivors-lose-appeal/1510434692800/
[^59]: *Fairness in Media v. Federal Communications Commission*, 488 U.S. 893 (1988), certiorari denied October 11, 1988 (order list). https://static.case.law/us/488/cases/0893-01.json


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