2009 term United States Supreme Court opinions of John Paul Stevens

The 2009 term of the Supreme Court of the United States began October 5, 2009 and concluded October 3, 2010. This was the thirty-fifth and final term of Associate Justice John Paul Stevens's tenure on the Court; Stevens retired on June 29, 2010.
John Paul Stevens 2009 term statistics 6 Majority or Plurality 13 Concurrence 3 Other 13 Dissent 2 Concurrence/dissent Total = 37 Bench opinions = 33 Opinions relating to orders = 4 In-chambers opinions = 0 Unanimous opinions: 1 Most joined by: Ginsburg, Sotomayor (8) Least joined by: Scalia, Thomas (4)

Type	Case	Citation	Issues	Joined by	Other opinions
5-01	United States v. Seale	01558 U.S. ___ (2009)	federal criminal law  • statute of limitations	Scalia
Stevens filed a statement respecting the Court's dismissal of a certified question, regarding which statute of limitations applied to the federal crime of kidnapping, 18 U.S.C. § 1201. The question arose in the federal prosecution, begun in 2007, of KKK member James Ford Seale for his role in the 1964 murders of two black teens. There was no statute of limitations for capital crimes, but if the crime was not capital in nature the limitations period would be five years and have since expired. Section 1201 was punishable by death at the time of the crime and at the time of the prosecution, but not for more than two decades in between due to a repeal of the relevant death penalty provision in 1972. The District Court in Seale's prosecution ruled that the repeal did not retroactively change the character of the crime, which a panel of the Fifth Circuit then reversed. The Fifth Circuit vacated that decision for an en banc review, but then evenly divided and so the District Court's ruling was reinstated. A majority of the Fifth Circuit then voted to certify the question to the Supreme Court. Stevens believed the certified issue was "a pure question of law that may well determine the outcome of a number of cases of ugly racial violence remaining from the 1960s." Though the question was interlocutory, due to Seale's appeal on other grounds, Stevens saw no reason to delay the resolution of that question, which Stevens viewed as "narrow, debatable, and important." Stevens further noted that the Court had not accepted a certified question since 1981, but that the certification process remains law because it "serves a valuable, if limited, function."
5-02	Muhammad v. Kelly	02558 U.S. ___ (2009)	death penalty	Ginsburg, Sotomayor
Stevens filed a statement respecting the Court's denial of a stay of execution, and denial of the petition for certiorari.
2-03	Wong v. Belmontes	03558 U.S. ___ (2009)	Sixth Amendment  • ineffective assistance of counsel  • death penalty  • jury instructions		per curiam
Stevens filed an opinion concurring in the Supreme Court's judgment that a convicted murderer on death row had failed to show that his attorney's failure to present more mitigating evidence affected the outcome of his sentencing. Stevens, however, criticized the Supreme Court's prior decision in the same case, from which he had dissented, and stated that he strongly disagreed with the decision to review the case again. The jury had been erroneously instructed that they could not give mitigating weight to any factors that did not reduce his culpability for the crime, which lead it to disregard evidence of the defendant's religious conversion and contributions to a youth rehabilitation program that could have "afford[ed] the jury a principled basis for imposing a sentence other than death." Stevens noted that "the conscientious jurors' mistaken understanding of the law would have prevented them from giving that additional evidence 'any weight at all,' let alone controlling weight."
5-04	Johnson v. Bredesen	04558 U.S. ___ (2009)	Eighth Amendment  • death penalty	Breyer	Thomas
Stevens filed a statement respecting the Court's denial of certiorari and a stay of execution.
4-05	Michigan v. Fisher	05558 U.S. ___ (2009)	Fourth Amendment  • emergency aid exception	Sotomayor	per curiam
3-06	Alvarez v. Smith	06558 U.S. ___ (2009)			Breyer
2-07	Smith v. Spisak	07558 U.S. ___ (2010)			Breyer
4-08	NRG Power Marketing, LLC v. Maine Pub. Util. Comm'n	08558 U.S. ___ (2010)			Ginsburg
4-09	Wood v. Allen	09558 U.S. ___ (2010)		Kennedy	Sotomayor
3-10	Citizens United v. Federal Election Comm'n	10558 U.S. ___ (2010)	First Amendment  • freedom of speech  • campaign finance reform	Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor	Kennedy Roberts Scalia Thomas
4-11	Florida v. Powell	11559 U.S. ___ (2010)	Fifth Amendment  • Miranda warning	Breyer (in part)	Ginsburg
2-12	Maryland v. Shatzer	12559 U.S. ___ (2010)			Scalia Thomas
4-13	Florida v. Rigterink	13559 U.S. ___ (2010)
Stevens dissented from the Court's summary granting of certiorari, vacatur of decision by the Florida Supreme Court, and remand. Stevens believed the lower court's decision rested upon an adequate and independent state ground, leaving the Court without jurisdiction to vacate the judgment.
1-14	Graham County Soil and Water Conservation Dist. v. United States ex rel. Wilson	14559 U.S. ___ (2010)		Roberts, Kennedy, Thomas, Ginsburg, Alito; Scalia (in part)	Scalia Sotomayor
1-15	Padilla v. Kentucky	15559 U.S. ___ (2010)		Kennedy, Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor	Alito Scalia
2-16	Shady Grove Orthopedic Associates, P. A. v. Allstate Ins. Co.	16559 U.S. ___ (2010)			Scalia Ginsburg
2-17	Merck & Co. v. Reynolds	17559 U.S. ___ (2010)			Breyer Scalia
4-18	Salazar v. Buono	18559 U.S. ___ (2010)	First Amendment  • Establishment Clause	Ginsburg, Sotomayor	Kennedy Roberts Scalia Alito Breyer
4-19	Renico v. Lett	19559 U.S. ___ (2010)		Sotomayor; Breyer (in part)	Roberts
4-20	Abbott v. Abbott	20560 U.S. ___ (2010)		Thomas, Breyer	Kennedy
2-21	Graham v. Florida	21560 U.S. ___ (2010)		Ginsburg, Sotomayor	Kennedy Roberts Thomas Alito
1-22	American Needle, Inc. v. National Football League	22560 U.S. ___ (2010)	antitrust law	Unanimous
2-23	United States v. O'Brien	23560 U.S. ___ (2010)			Kennedy Thomas
2-24	Hardt v. Reliance Standard Life Ins. Co.	24560 U.S. ___ (2010)			Thomas
4-25	United States v. Marcus	25560 U.S. ___ (2010)			Breyer
1-26	Samantar v. Yousuf	26560 U.S. ___ (2010)	Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act	Roberts, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Alito, Sotomayor	Scalia Thomas Alito
1-27	Carachuri-Rosendo v. Holder	27560 U.S. ___ (2010)		Roberts, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Alito, Sotomayor	Scalia Thomas
1-28	New Process Steel, L. P. v. NLRB	28560 U.S. ___ (2010)		Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Alito	Kennedy
2-29	Ontario v. Quon	29560 U.S. ___ (2010)			Kennedy Scalia
4-30	Dillon v. United States	30560 U.S. ___ (2010)			Sotomayor
4-31	Rent-A-Center, West, Inc. v. Jackson	31561 U.S. ___ (2010)		Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor	Scalia
4-32	Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms	32561 U.S. ___ (2010)			Alito
2-33	Doe v. Reed	33561 U.S. ___ (2010)		Breyer	Roberts Scalia Breyer Alito Sotomayor Thomas
2-34	Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd.	34561 U.S. ___ (2010)		Ginsburg	Scalia Breyer
2-35	Bilski v. Kappos	35561 U.S. ___ (2010)		Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor	Kennedy Breyer
2-36	Christian Legal Soc. Chapter of Univ. of Cal., Hastings College of Law v. Martinez	36561 U.S. ___ (2010)			Ginsburg Kennedy Alito
4-37	McDonald v. Chicago	37561 U.S. ___ (2010)			Alito Scalia Thomas Breyer

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