Pitcher Plant

The Supreme Court of the United States handed down six per curiam opinions during its 2012 term, which began October 1, 2012 and concluded October 6, 2013.

Because per curiam decisions are issued from the Court as an institution, these opinions all lack the attribution of authorship or joining votes to specific justices. All justices on the Court at the time the decision was handed down are assumed to have participated and concurred unless otherwise noted.

Court membership

Chief Justice: John Roberts

Associate Justices: Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan

Lefemine v. Wideman

568 U.S. 1
Decided November 5, 2012.
Fourth Circuit vacated and remanded.

The Supreme Court vacated a Fourth Circuit ruling that a civil rights plaintiff who had been awarded an injunction, but not monetary damages, was not entitled to attorney's fees as a "prevailing plaintiff" under 42 U.S.C. §1988. The Court ruled that the plaintiff was indeed a "prevailing plaintiff" within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. §1988, "[b]ecause the injunction ordered the defendant officials to change their behavior in a way that directly benefited the plaintiff", and that the plaintiff was therefore entitled to attorney's fees.

Nitro-Lift Technologies, L. L. C. v. Howard

568 U.S. 17
Decided November 26, 2012.
Supreme Court of Oklahoma vacated and remanded.

The U.S. Supreme Court vacated the Oklahoma Supreme Court's ruling that a noncompetition covenant in an employment contract was unenforceable under state law, where the contract as a whole was subject to arbitration. Under the Federal Arbitration Act, the Court wrote, "it is for the arbitrator to decide in the first instance whether the covenants not to compete are valid as a matter of applicable state law."

Marshall v. Rodgers

569 U.S. 58
Decided April 1, 2013.
Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded.

Boyer v. Louisiana

569 U.S. 238
Argued January 14, 2013.
Decided April 29, 2013.
The Court dismissed the writ of certiorari as improvidently granted.

Alito filed a concurrence, joined by Scalia and Thomas. Sotomayor filed a dissent, joined by Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kagan.

Nevada v. Jackson

569 U.S. 505
Decided June 3, 2013.
Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded.

Ryan v. Schad

570 U.S. 521
Decided June 24, 2013.
Ninth Circuit reversed, vacated, and remanded.

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 568
• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 569
• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 570

References