| Location: | Washington, D.C. |
| Type: | Presidential nomination with Senate confirmation |
| Authority: | Constitution of the United States, Art. III, §1 |
| Terms: | life tenure, subject to impeachment and removal |
| Positions: | 9 (by statute) |
This is a list of cases reported in volume 209 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1908.
See also: List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.
See also: List of United States Supreme Court justices by time in office.
See also: List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States by court composition.
The Supreme Court is established by Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of the United States, which says: "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court . . .". The size of the Court is not specified; the Constitution leaves it to Congress to set the number of justices. Under the Judiciary Act of 1789 Congress originally fixed the number of justices at six (one chief justice and five associate justices).[1] Since 1789 Congress has varied the size of the Court from six to seven, nine, ten, and back to nine justices (always including one chief justice).
When the cases in volume 209 were decided the Court comprised the following nine members:
| Portrait | Justice | Office | Home State | Succeeded | Date confirmed by the Senate (Vote) | Tenure on Supreme Court |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melville Fuller | Chief Justice | Illinois | Morrison Waite | (41–20) | – July 4, 1910 (Died) | |
| John Marshall Harlan | Associate Justice | Kentucky | David Davis | (Acclamation) | – October 14, 1911 (Died) | |
| David Josiah Brewer | Associate Justice | Kansas | Stanley Matthews | (53–11) | – March 28, 1910 (Died) | |
| Edward Douglass White | Associate Justice | Louisiana | Samuel Blatchford | (Acclamation) | – December 18, 1910 (Continued as chief justice) | |
| Rufus W. Peckham | Associate Justice | New York | Howell Edmunds Jackson | (Acclamation) | – October 24, 1909 (Died) | |
| Joseph McKenna | Associate Justice | California | Stephen Johnson Field | (Acclamation) | – January 5, 1925 (Retired) | |
| Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. | Associate Justice | Massachusetts | Horace Gray | (Acclamation) | – January 12, 1932 (Retired) | |
| William R. Day | Associate Justice | Ohio | George Shiras Jr. | (Acclamation) | – November 13, 1922 (Retired) | |
| William Henry Moody | Associate Justice | Massachusetts | Henry Billings Brown | (Acclamation) | – November 20, 1910 (Retired) | |
In Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. 123 (1908), the Supreme Court held that suits in federal courts for injunctions against individual officials acting on behalf of states of the union may proceed despite the State's sovereign immunity, when the State acted contrary to any federal law or contrary to the Constitution.[2] This ruling evaded the problem of the Eleventh Amendment, which prohibits states from being sued in federal court by citizens of other states.
See also: United States district court.
See also: United States circuit court.
See also: United States court of appeals.
See also: United States federal courts. Under the Judiciary Act of 1789 the federal court structure at the time comprised District Courts, which had general trial jurisdiction; Circuit Courts, which had mixed trial and appellate (from the US District Courts) jurisdiction; and the United States Supreme Court, which had appellate jurisdiction over the federal District and Circuit courts—and for certain issues over state courts. The Supreme Court also had limited original jurisdiction (i.e., in which cases could be filed directly with the Supreme Court without first having been heard by a lower federal or state court). There were one or more federal District Courts and/or Circuit Courts in each state, territory, or other geographical region.
The Judiciary Act of 1891 created the United States Courts of Appeals and reassigned the jurisdiction of most routine appeals from the district and circuit courts to these appellate courts. The Act created nine new courts that were originally known as the "United States Circuit Courts of Appeals." The new courts had jurisdiction over most appeals of lower court decisions. The Supreme Court could review either legal issues that a court of appeals certified or decisions of court of appeals by writ of certiorari.
Bluebook citation style is used for case names, citations, and jurisdictions.
See also: Fuller Court.
| Case Name | Page & year | Opinion of the Court | Concurring opinion(s) | Dissenting opinion(s) | Lower Court | Disposition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White-Smith Music Publishing Company v. Apollo Company | 1 (1908) | Day | Holmes | none | affirmed | |
| Dun v. Lumbermen's Credit Association | 20 (1908) | Moody | none | none | affirmed | |
| Venner v. Great Northern Railroad Company | 24 (1908) | Moody | none | none | affirmed | |
| Battle v. United States | 36 (1908) | Holmes | none | none | affirmed | |
| United States v. Thayer | 39 (1908) | Holmes | none | none | reversed | |
| O'Reilly de Camara v. Brooke | 45 (1908) | Holmes | none | none | affirmed | |
| Smith v. Rainey | 53 (1908) | Holmes | none | none | reversed | |
| Armour Packing Company v. United States | 56 (1908) | Day | none | Brewer | 8th Cir. | affirmed |
| Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company v. United States | 90 (1908) | Day | none | none | affirmed | |
| Bosque v. United States | 91 (1908) | Fuller | none | none | Phil. | affirmed |
| Hallowell v. United States | 101 (1908) | Harlan | none | none | dismissed | |
| Interstate Commerce Commission v. Chicago Great Western Railway Company | 108 (1908) | Brewer | none | none | affirmed | |
| Ex parte Young | 123 (1908) | Peckham | none | Harlan | habeas corpus denied | |
| Hunter v. Wood | 205 (1908) | Peckham | none | Harlan | affirmed | |
| General Oil Company v. Crain | 211 (1908) | McKenna | Harlan | Moody | affirmed | |
| Dotson v. Milliken | 237 (1908) | Holmes | none | none | affirmed | |
| Hutchins v. Munn | 246 (1908) | Moody | none | none | affirmed | |
| Asbell v. Kansas | 251 (1908) | Moody | none | none | affirmed | |
| Thomas v. Iowa | 258 (1908) | Moody | none | none | dismissed | |
| Lipphard v. Humphrey | 264 (1908) | Fuller | none | none | D.C. Cir. | affirmed |
| McCabe and Steen Construction Company v. Wilson | 275 (1908) | Brewer | none | none | affirmed | |
| Garzot v. De Rubio | 283 (1908) | White | none | none | reversed | |
| United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company v. United States ex rel. Struthers Wells Company | 306 (1908) | Peckham | none | none | affirmed | |
| National Life Insurance Company v. National Life Insurance Company | 317 (1908) | Peckham | none | none | affirmed | |
| Allemannia Fire Insurance Company v. Firemen's Insurance Company ex rel. Wolfe | 326 (1908) | Peckham | none | none | affirmed | |
| United States v. Cerecedo Hermanos y Compañia | 337 (1908) | McKenna | none | none | reversed | |
| Thompson v. Kentucky | 340 (1908) | McKenna | none | none | affirmed | |
| Hudson County Water Company v. McCarter | 349 (1908) | Holmes | none | none | N.J. | affirmed |
| Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad Company v. City of Vicksburg | 358 (1908) | Day | none | none | affirmed | |
| Richardson v. Shaw | 365 (1908) | Day | Holmes | none | 2d Cir. | affirmed |
| Thomas v. Taggart | 385 (1908) | Day | none | none | 2d Cir. | affirmed |
| Beadles v. Smyser | 393 (1908) | Day | none | none | reversed | |
| Ware and Leland v. Mobile County | 405 (1908) | Day | none | none | affirmed | |
| Longyear v. Toolan | 414 (1908) | Moody | none | none | affirmed | |
| Stickney v. Kelsey | 419 (1908) | Moody | none | none | dismissed | |
| Shawnee Compress Company v. Anderson | 423 (1908) | McKenna | none | none | affirmed | |
| Ex parte Nebraska | 436 (1908) | Fuller | none | none | mandamus denied | |
| United States v. Chandler-Dunbar Water Power Company | 447 (1908) | Holmes | none | none | affirmed | |
| Liu Hop Fong v. United States | 453 (1908) | Day | none | none | reversed | |
| Bogard v. Sweet | 464 (1908) | Harlan | none | none | affirmed | |
| Lang v. New Jersey | 467 (1908) | McKenna | none | none | affirmed | |
| Central Railroad Company of New Jersey v. Jersey City | 473 (1908) | Holmes | none | none | affirmed | |
| Scully v. Bird | 481 (1908) | McKenna | none | none | reversed | |
| In re Moore | 490 (1908) | Brewer | none | Fuller | mandamus denied | |
| Virginia v. West Virginia | 514 (1908) | Fuller | none | none | referred to special master | |