List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 248 explained

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 248 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1918 and 1919.

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 248 U.S.

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 248 were decided the Court comprised the following nine members:

PortraitJusticeOfficeHome StateSucceededDate confirmed by the Senate
(Vote)
Tenure on Supreme Court
Edward Douglass WhiteChief JusticeLouisianaMelville Fuller
(Acclamation)


May 19, 1921
(Died)
Joseph McKennaAssociate JusticeCaliforniaStephen Johnson Field
(Acclamation)


January 5, 1925
(Retired)
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.Associate JusticeMassachusettsHorace Gray
(Acclamation)


January 12, 1932
(Retired)
William R. DayAssociate JusticeOhioGeorge Shiras Jr.
(Acclamation)


November 13, 1922
(Retired)
Willis Van DevanterAssociate JusticeWyomingEdward Douglass White (as Associate Justice)
(Acclamation)


June 2, 1937
(Retired)
Mahlon PitneyAssociate JusticeNew JerseyJohn Marshall Harlan
(50–26)


December 31, 1922
(Resigned)
James Clark McReynoldsAssociate JusticeTennesseeHorace Harmon Lurton
(44–6)


January 31, 1941
(Retired)
Louis BrandeisAssociate JusticeMassachusettsJoseph Rucker Lamar
(47–22)


February 13, 1939
(Retired)
John Hessin ClarkeAssociate JusticeOhioCharles Evans Hughes
(Acclamation)


September 18, 1922
(Retired)

Citation style

See also: United States district 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. On January 1, 1912, the effective date of the Judicial Code of 1911, the old Circuit Courts were abolished, with their remaining trial court jurisdiction transferred to the U.S. District Courts.

Bluebook citation style is used for case names, citations, and jurisdictions.

List of cases in volume 248 U.S.

See also: White Court.

Case NamePage and yearOpinion of the CourtConcurring opinion(s)Dissenting opinion(s)Lower CourtDisposition of case
Pittsburgh Melting Company v. Totten 1 (1918)Daynonenone3d Cir.affirmed
Watts, Watts and Company, Ltd. v. v. Unione Austriaca di Navigazione 9 (1918)Brandeisnonenone2d Cir.reversed
King v. Putnam Investment Company 23 (1918)WhitenonenoneKan.dismissed
Lay v. Lay 24 (1918)WhitenonenoneMiss.affirmed
Georgia v. Cincinnati Southern Railway Company 26 (1918)Holmesnonenoneoriginaldismissed
Detroit and Mackinac Railway Company v. Fletcher Paper Company 30 (1918)HolmesnonenoneMich.affirmed
Palmer v. Ohio 32 (1918)ClarkenonenoneOhiodismissed
Orr v. Allen 35 (1918)WhitenonenoneS.D. Ohioaffirmed
E.W. Bliss Company v. United States 37 (1918)McKennanonenone2d Cir.affirmed
Van Dyke v. Eastern Railroad Company 49 (1918)McKennanonenoneAriz.affirmed
Buckeye Powder Company v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours Powder Company 55 (1918)Holmesnonenone3d Cir.affirmed
Watters v. Michigan 65 (1918)HolmesnonenoneMich.affirmed
Union Pacific Railroad Company v. Public Service Commission of Missouri 67 (1918)HolmesnonenoneMo.reversed
Gulf Oil Corporation v. Lewellyn 71 (1918)Holmesnonenone3d Cir.reversed
Sterrett v. Second National Bank of Cincinnati 73 (1918)Daynonenone6th Cir.affirmed
Alaska Pacific Fisheries v. United States 78 (1918)VanDevanternonenone9th Cir.affirmed
United Drug Company v. Theodore Rectanus Company 90 (1918)Pitneynonenone6th Cir.affirmed
Ruddy v. Rossi 104 (1918)McReynoldsHolmesnoneIdahoreversed
Payne v. Kansas ex rel. Brewster 112 (1918)McReynoldsnonenoneKan.affirmed
Nicoulin v. O'Brien 113 (1918)McReynoldsnonenoneKy.affirmed
Iowa v. Slimmer 115 (1918)Brandeisnonenoneoriginalmotion to file denied
Tempel v. United States 121 (1918)BrandeisnonenoneN.D. Ill.reversed
United States v. Spearin 132 (1918)BrandeisnonenoneCt. Cl.affirmed
Luckenbach v. W.J. McCahan Sugar Refining Company 139 (1918)Brandeisnonenone2d Cir.affirmed
MacMath v. United States 151 (1918)BrandeisnonenoneCt. Cl.affirmed
Petrie v. Nampa and Meridian Irrigation District 154 (1918)ClarkenonenoneIdahodismissed
Pure Oil Company v. Minnesota 158 (1918)ClarkenonenoneMinn.affirmed
Wells Fargo and Company v. Nevada 165 (1918)VanDevanternonenoneNev.affirmed
Campbell v. Wadsworth 169 (1918)ClarkenonenoneOkla.reversed
Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company v. Arctic Iron Company 178 (1918)WhitenoneClarke6th Cir.dismissed
Dillon v. Strathearn Steamship Company 182 (1918)Daynonenone5th Cir.dismissed
Sandberg v. McDonald 185 (1918)DaynoneMcKenna5th Cir.affirmed
Neilson v. Rhine Shipping Company 205 (1918)DaynoneMcKenna2d Cir.affirmed
International News Service v. Associated Press 215 (1918)Pitneynonenone2d Cir.affirmed
Farson Son and Company v. Bird 268 (1919)WhitenonenoneAla.dismissed
Andrews v. Virginian Railway Company 272 (1919)WhitenonenoneVa. Cir. Ct.dismissed
Missouri Pacific Railroad Company v. Kansas 276 (1919)WhitenonenoneKan.affirmed
Weigle v. Curtice Brothers Company 285 (1919)HolmesnonenoneW.D. Wis.reversed
Flexner v. Farson 289 (1919)HolmesnonenoneIll.affirmed
Englewood v. Denver and South Platte Railway Company 294 (1919)HolmesnonenoneColo.dismissed
Hebe Company v. Shaw 297 (1919)HolmesnoneDayS.D. Ohioaffirmed
Union Fish Company v. Erickson 308 (1919)Daynonenone9th Cir.affirmed
Fisher v. Rule 314 (1919)VanDevanternonenone8th Cir.affirmed
Danciger v. Cooley 319 (1919)VanDevanternonenoneKan.affirmed
Leary v. City of Jersey City 328 (1919)Pitneynonenone3d Cir.affirmed
Guerini Stone Company v. P.J. Carlin Construction Company 334 (1919)Pitneynonenone1st Cir.reversed
United States v. Comyns 349 (1919)PitneynonenoneW.D. Wash.reversed
Turner v. United States 354 (1919)BrandeisnonenoneCt. Cl.affirmed
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company v. Maucher 359 (1919)BrandeisnonenoneNeb.dismissed
Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company v. Sealy 363 (1919)BrandeisnonenoneKan.dismissed
Merchants Exchange of St. Louis v. Missouri ex rel. Barker 365 (1919)BrandeisnonenoneMo.affirmed
Erie Railroad Company v. Hamilton 369 (1919)ClarkenonenoneN.Y. Sup. Ct.dismissed
Union Dry Goods Company v. Georgia Public Service Corporation 372 (1919)ClarkenonenoneGa.affirmed
Allanwilde Transport Corporation v. Vacuum Oil Company 377 (1919)McKennanonenone3d Cir.certification
International Paper Company v. The Gracie D. Chambers 387 (1919)McKennanonenone2d Cir.affirmed
Standard Varnish Works v. Steamship "Bris 392 (1919)McKennanonenone2d Cir.certification
Fink v. Muskogee County 399 (1919)McKennanonenoneOkla.affirmed
Cochnower v. United States 405 (1919)McKennanonenoneCt. Cl.reversed
Fullinwider v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company 409 (1919)McKennanonenone9th Cir.affirmed
Cordova v. Grant 413 (1919)HolmesnonenoneW.D. Tex.dismissed
United States v. Hill 420 (1919)DaynoneMcReynoldsS.D.W. Va.reversed
Detroit United Railway Company v. City of Detroit 429 (1919)DaynoneClarkeE.D. Mich.reversed
Southern Pacific Railroad Company v. Stewart 446 (1919)McReynoldsnonenone9th Cir.reversed
Cohn v. Malone 450 (1919)McReynoldsnonenone5th Cir.affirmed
Cavanaugh v. Looney 453 (1919)McReynoldsnonenoneN.D. Tex.affirmed
Coon v. Kennedy 457 (1919)McReynoldsnonenoneN.J.dismissed
J. Homer Fritch, Inc. v. United States 458 (1919)Whitenonenone9th Cir.reversed
La Tourette v. McMaster 465 (1919)McKennanonenoneS.C.affirmed
Postal Telegraph Cable Company v. Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad Company 471 (1919)Holmesnonenonemultipleaffirmed
Bank of California, N.A. v. Richardson 476 (1919)WhitenonePitneyCal.reversed
Bank of California, N.A. v. Roberts 497 (1919)per curiamnonenoneCal.reversed
Pierce Oil Corporation v. City of Hope 498 (1919)HolmesnonenoneArk.affirmed
Mount Saint Mary's Cemetery Association v. Mullins 501 (1919)DaynonenoneMo.affirmed
United States v. New Orleans Pacific Railway Company507 (1919)VanDevanternonenone5th Cir.multiple
Oelwerke Teutonia v. Erlanger 521 (1919)HolmesnonenonePhil.affirmed
Central of Georgia Railway Company v. Wright 525 (1919)HolmesnonenoneGa.reversed

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Supreme Court Research Guide . 7 April 2021 . Georgetown Law Library.