2008 term United States Supreme Court opinions of Stephen Breyer

The 2008 term of the Supreme Court of the United States began October 6, 2008 and concluded October 4, 2009. This was the fifteenth term of Associate Justice Stephen Breyer's tenure on the Court.	150px
Stephen Breyer 2008 term statistics 8 Majority or Plurality 7 Concurrence 1 Other 13 Dissent 3 Concurrence/dissent Total = 32 Bench opinions = 29 Opinions relating to orders = 2 In-chambers opinions = 1 Unanimous opinions: 3 Most joined by: Souter (13) Least joined by: Thomas (5)

Type	Case	Citation	Issues	Joined by	Other opinions
3-01	Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.	01555 U.S. 7 (2008)	National Environmental Policy Act  • impact of naval sonar testing on marine mammals  • environmental impact statements	Stevens (in part)	Roberts Ginsburg
1-02	Chambers v. United States	02555 U.S. 122 (2009)	Armed Career Criminal Act  • definition of "violent felony"	Roberts, Stevens, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg	Alito
4-03	Herring v. United States	03555 U.S. 135 (2009)	Fourth Amendment  • exclusionary rule  • effect of police negligence on search	Souter	Roberts Ginsburg
1-04	Locke v. Karass	04555 U.S. 207 (2009)	First Amendment  • public employee union fees imposed on nonmembers	Unanimous	Alito
1-05	Van de Kamp v. Goldstein	05555 U.S. 335 (2009)	Section 1983  • failure to disclose impeachment evidence of state witnesses  • prosecutorial immunity	Unanimous
2-06	Nelson v. United States	06555 U.S. 350 (2009)	United States Sentencing Guidelines  • confession of error	Alito	per curiam
3-07	Ysursa v. Pocatello Ed. Assn.	07555 U.S. 353 (2009)	First Amendment  • public employee unions  • state ban on payroll deductions for political activities		Roberts Ginsburg Stevens Souter
2-08	Carcieri v. Salazar	08555 U.S. 379 (2009)	Indian Reorganization Act  • legal status of Narragansett Tribe  • authority of Secretary of the Interior to take land in trust		Thomas Souter Stevens
2-09	Pacific Bell Telephone Co. v. linkLine Communications, Inc.	09555 U.S. 438 (2009)	antitrust law  • Sherman Antitrust Act  • predatory pricing  • wholesale DSL service	Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg	Roberts
2-10	Pleasant Grove City v. Summum	10555 U.S. 460 (2009)	First Amendment  • free speech  • government speech  • public forums		Alito Stevens Scalia Souter
4-11	Summers v. Earth Island Institute	11555 U.S. 488 (2009)	Forest Service Decisionmaking and Appeals Reform Act  • regulatory exceptions to notice and comment procedures  • Article III  • standing	Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg	Scalia Kennedy
2-12	Wyeth v. Levine	12555 U.S. 555 (2009)	Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act  • FDA-approved pharmaceutical labeling  • federal preemption  • failure-to-warn of risks		Stevens Thomas Alito
4-13	Kelly v. California	13555 U.S. 1020 (2008)	Due Process Clause  • Eighth Amendment  • death penalty  • victim impact evidence		Stevens
Breyer dissented from the Court's denial of certiorari, in a case that involved the admissibility of "victim impact evidence" during the sentencing phase of a capital trial.
4-14	Bartlett v. Strickland	14556 U.S. 1 (2009)	Voting Rights Act of 1965  • legislative redistricting  • vote dilution		Kennedy Thomas Souter Ginsburg
4-15	Vermont v. Brillon	15556 U.S. 81 (2009)	Sixth Amendment  • Speedy Trial Clause  • delay attributable to court-appointed defense counsel	Stevens	Ginsburg
3-16	Entergy Corp. v. Riverkeeper, Inc.	16556 U.S. 208 (2009)	Clean Water Act  • environmental impact of power plant cooling water intake  • national performance standards based on cost-benefit analysis		Scalia Stevens
4-17	Arizona v. Gant	17556 U.S. 332 (2009)	Fourth Amendment  • search incident to arrest  • vehicle search		Stevens Scalia Alito
1-18	Ministry of Defense and Support for Armed Forces of Islamic Republic of Iran v. Elahi	18556 U.S. 36 (2009)	attachment to judgment in favor of foreign government  • Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002  • Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000	Roberts, Stevens, Scalia, Thomas, Alito; Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg (in part)	Kennedy
1-19	Shinseki v. Sanders	19556 U.S. 396 (2009)	denial of benefits by Department of Veterans Affairs  • failure to give notice of required evidence  • harmless error	Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Alito	Souter
4-20	FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc.	20556 U.S. 502 (2009)	Public Telecommunications Act of 1992  • indecency ban on broadcast television  • fleeting expletives	Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg	Scalia Kennedy Thomas Stevens Ginsburg
4-21	Dean v. United States	21556 U.S. 568 (2009)	federal criminal law  • mandatory additional sentence discharge of firearm during crime  • proof of intent  • rule of lenity		Roberts Stevens
2-22	Carlsbad Technology, Inc. v. HIF Bio, Inc.	22556 U.S. 635 (2009)	appeal after removal to state court  • supplemental jurisdiction	Souter	Thomas Stevens Scalia
1-23	Flores-Figueroa v. United States	23556 U.S. 646 (2009)	federal criminal law  • identity theft  • knowing use of another person's identification	Roberts, Stevens, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg	Scalia Alito
4-24	Ashcroft v. Iqbal	24556 U.S. 662 (2009)	post-9/11 detention  • qualified immunity  • collateral order doctrine  • Federal Rules of Civil Procedure  • sufficiency of pleadings in discrimination case		Kennedy Souter
4-25	Montejo v. Louisiana	25556 U.S. 778 (2009)	Fifth Amendment  • right against self-incrimination  • police interrogation after invocation of right to counsel		Scalia Alito Stevens
4-26	Thompson v. McNeil	26556 U.S. 1114 (2009)	Eighth Amendment  • death penalty  • substantial delay		Stevens Thomas
Breyer dissented from the Court's denial of certiorari.
1-27	Polar Tankers, Inc. v. City of Valdez	27557 U.S. 1 (2009)	Tonnage Clause  • local property tax on vessels	Scalia, Kennedy, Ginsburg; Alito (in part)	Roberts Alito Stevens
1-28	Nijhawan v. Holder	28557 U.S. 29 (2009)	immigration law  • removal after conviction of aggravated felony  • threshold for monetary loss caused by crime	Unanimous
4-29	Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc.	29557 U.S. 167 (2009)	Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967  • disparate treatment claim  • but-for causation  • burden of persuasion	Souter, Ginsburg	Thomas Stevens
2-30	Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council	30557 U.S. 261 (2009)	Clean Water Act  • Army Corps of Engineers authority to issue slurry discharge permit		Kennedy Scalia Ginsburg
4-31	Horne v. Flores	31557 U.S. 433 (2009)	Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974  • state funding of English language instruction  • Article III  • standing  • Federal Rules of Civil Procedure  • relief from judgment based on changed circumstances  • No Child Left Behind Act	Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg	Alito
5-32	O'Brien v. O'Laughlin	32557 U.S. 1301 (2009)	habeas corpus  • bail pending appeal
Breyer denied the government's application for a stay of the grant of a habeas corpus petition.

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