2007 term per curiam opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States handed down six per curiam opinions during its 2007 term, which began on October 1, 2007 and concluded September 30, 2008.^[1]

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: John Paul Stevens, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito

Allen v. Siebert

552 U.S. 3 Decided November 5, 2007 Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded. The Court held that because Siebert’s petition for state postconviction relief was rejected as untimely by the Alabama courts, it was not “properly filed” under §2244(d)(2). Accordingly, he was not entitled to tolling of AEDPA’s 1-year statute of limitations. Stevens filed a dissent, which Ginsburg joined.

Full case name: Richard F. Allen, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Corrections v. Daniel Siebert Citations: 552 U.S. 3 Prior history: Full text of the Court's decision (.pdf)

Arave v. Hoffman

552 U.S. 117 Decided January 7, 2008 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated and remanded.

Full case name: Avron J. Arave, Warden v. Maxwell Hoffman Citations: 552 U.S. 117 Prior history: Full text of the Court's decision (.pdf)

Wright v. Van Patten

552 U.S. 120 Decided January 7, 2008 Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded. Stevens filed an opinion concurring in the judgment.

Full case name: Randall Wright, Sheriff, Shawano County, Wisconsin v. Joseph L. Van Patten Citations: 552 U.S. 120 Prior history: Full text of the Court's decision (.pdf)

Medellín v. Texas

554 U.S. 759 Decided August 5, 2008 The Court denied the petitioner's application for stay of execution of sentence of death, and his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer each filed dissents.

Full case name: Jose Ernesto Medellin v. Texas Citations: 554 U.S. 759 Prior history: Medellín v. State, No. 71,997 (Tex. Crim. App., May 16, 1997); petition denied, S.D. Tex.; certificate of appealability denied, 371 F.3d 270 (5th Cir. 2004); cert. granted, 543 U.S. 1032 (2005); cert. dismissed, 544 U.S. 660 (2005) (per curiam) (Medellín I); Ex parte Medellín, 223 S.W. 3d 315 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006); cert. granted Ex parte Medellín, 550 U.S. 917 (2007); aff'd, 552 U.S. 491 (2008) (Medellín II) Full text of the Court's decision (.pdf)

Notes

1. Descriptions of two decisions have been omitted. Both Board of Ed. of City School Dist. of New York v. Tom F., 552 U.S. 1 (2007), and Warner-Lambert Co. v. Kent, 552 U.S. 440 (2007), merely noted that the lower court's judgment was affirmed by an equally divided Court.

References

• 2007 term opinions of the Supreme Court, accessed March 25, 2010.