This is a list of cases reported in volume 272 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1926 and 1927.

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 272 U.S.

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). 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 272 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 William Howard Taft Chief Justice Connecticut Edward Douglass White (Acclamation) –February 3, 1930(Retired) Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Associate Justice Massachusetts Horace Gray (Acclamation) –January 12, 1932(Retired) Willis Van Devanter Associate Justice Wyoming Edward Douglass White (as Associate Justice) (Acclamation) –June 2, 1937(Retired) James Clark McReynolds Associate Justice Tennessee Horace Harmon Lurton (44–6) –January 31, 1941(Retired) Louis Brandeis Associate Justice Massachusetts Joseph Rucker Lamar (47–22) –February 13, 1939(Retired) George Sutherland Associate Justice Utah John Hessin Clarke (Acclamation) –January 17, 1938(Retired) Pierce Butler Associate Justice Minnesota William R. Day (61–8) –November 16, 1939(Died) Edward Terry Sanford Associate Justice Tennessee Mahlon Pitney (Acclamation) –March 8, 1930(Died) Harlan F. Stone Associate Justice New York Joseph McKenna (71–6) –July 2, 1941(Continued as chief justice)

Notable Cases in 272 U.S.

Myers v. United States In Myers v. United States, 272 U.S. 52 (1926), the Supreme Court held that the President has the exclusive power to remove executive branch officials, and does not need the approval of the Senate or any other legislative body. It was distinguished in 1935 by Humphrey's Executor v. United States. In Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2020), however, the Supreme Court interpreted Myers as establishing that the President generally has unencumbered removal power. Myers was the first Supreme Court case to address the President's removal powers.

Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365 (1926), is a landmark Supreme Court decision approving the power of local government to establish rules of zoning. The Court's ruling that local ordinance zoning is a valid exercise of the police power bolstered zoning in the United States and influenced other countries. At the time of Euclid, zoning was a relatively new concept, and there had been complaints that it was an unreasonable intrusion into private property rights for a government to restrict how an owner might use property. The Court, in holding that there was valid government interest in maintaining the character of a neighborhood and in regulating where certain land uses should occur, allowed for the subsequent explosion in zoning ordinances across the country. The Court has never heard a case seeking to overturn Euclid. Today most local governments in the United States have zoning ordinances.

Lambert v. Yellowley In Lambert v. Yellowley, 272 U.S. 581 (1926), the Supreme Court reaffirmed the National Prohibition Act's limitation on the dispensation of alcoholic medicines. The Court affirmed dismissal of a suit in which New York City physician Samuel Lambert sought to prevent Edward Yellowley, the acting federal prohibition director, from enforcing the Prohibition Act so as to preclude Lambert from prescribing alcoholic medicines. The decision strengthened the police powers of the individual states, and clarified the Necessary and Proper Clause of the United States Constitution, which was cited in upholding the Prohibition Act's limitations as a necessary and proper implementation of the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Citation style

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. "# Cir." = United States Court of Appeals e.g., "3d Cir." = United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit "D." = United States District Court for the District of . . . e.g.,"D. Mass." = United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts "E." = Eastern; "M." = Middle; "N." = Northern; "S." = Southern; "W." = Western e.g.,"M.D. Ala." = United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama "Ct. Cl." = United States Court of Claims The abbreviation of a state's name alone indicates the highest appellate court in that state's judiciary at the time. e.g.,"Pa." = Supreme Court of Pennsylvania e.g.,"Me." = Supreme Judicial Court of Maine

List of cases in volume 272 U.S.

Case Name Page and year Opinion of the Court Concurring opinion(s) Dissenting opinion(s) Lower Court Disposition United States v. Chemical Foundation, Inc.1 (1926) Butler none none 3d Cir. affirmed Oklahoma v. Texas21 (1926) Sanford none none original boundary set International Stevedoring Company v. Haverty50 (1926) Holmes none none Wash. affirmed Myers v. United States52 (1926) Taft none Holmes; McReynolds; Brandeis Ct. Cl. affirmed Palmetto Fire Insurance Company v. Conn295 (1926) Holmes none none S.D. Ohio affirmed Dorchy v. Kansas306 (1926) Brandeis none none Kan. affirmed Hebert v. Louisiana312 (1926) VanDevanter none none La. affirmed Moore v. Fidelity and Deposit Company317 (1926) Brandeis none none D. Or. dismissed United States v. One Ford Coupe Automobile321 (1926) Brandeis Stone Butler 5th Cir. reversed Yankton Sioux Tribe of Indians v. United States351 (1926) Sutherland none none Ct. Cl. reversed Anderson v. Shipowners Association of the Pacific Coast359 (1926) Sutherland none none 9th Cir. reversed Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Company365 (1926) Sutherland none none N.D. Ohio reversed Michigan v. Wisconsin398 (1926) Sutherland none none original boundary set McCardle v. Indianapolis Water Company400 (1926) Butler none Brandeis D. Ind. affirmed Graves v. Minnesota425 (1926) Sanford none none Minn. affirmed I.T.S. Rubber Company v. Essex Rubber Company429 (1926) Sanford none none 1st Cir. affirmed Southern Pacific Company v. United States445 (1926) Stone none none Ct. Cl. affirmed Brasfield v. United States448 (1926) Stone none none 9th Cir. reversed Hudson v. United States451 (1926) Stone none none 3d Cir. affirmed United States v. New York Central Railroad Company457 (1926) Stone none none N.D.N.Y. reversed Van Oster v. Kansas465 (1926) Stone none none Kan. affirmed Hughes Brothers Timber Company v. Minnesota469 (1926) Taft none none Minn. reversed United States v. General Electric Company476 (1926) Taft none none N.D. Ohio affirmed Hanover Fire Insurance Company v. Harding494 (1926) Taft none none Ill. reversed Deutsche Bank Filiale Nurnberg v. Humphrey517 (1926) Holmes none Sutherland 9th Cir. reversed Massachusetts State Grange v. Benton525 (1926) Holmes none McReynolds D. Mass. affirmed Dodge v. United States530 (1926) Holmes none none 1st Cir. affirmed Luckenbach Steamship Company v. United States533 (1926) VanDevanter none none Ct. Cl. affirmed Salinger v. United States542 (1926) VanDevanter none none D.S.D. transfer to 8th Cir. United States v. Brims549 (1926) McReynolds none none 7th Cir. reversed Federal Trade Commission v. Western Meat Company554 (1926) McReynolds none Brandeis 7th Cir. multiple Port Gardner Investment Company v. United States564 (1926) Brandeis Butler none 9th Cir. certification Wachovia Bank and Trust Company v. Doughton567 (1926) McReynolds none Holmes N.C. reversed Ottinger, Attorney General of New York v. Consolidated Gas Company of New York576 (1926) McReynolds none none S.D.N.Y. affirmed Ottinger, Attorney General of New York v. Brooklyn Union Gas Company579 (1926) McReynolds none none E.D.N.Y. affirmed Lambert v. Yellowley581 (1926) Brandeis none Sutherland 2d Cir. affirmed Napier v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company605 (1926) Brandeis none none N.D. Ga. multiple Duffy v. Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company613 (1926) Sutherland none none 3d Cir. affirmed Fasulo v. United States620 (1926) Butler none none 9th Cir. reversed Murphy v. United States630 (1926) Holmes none none 3d Cir. certification United States v. McElvain633 (1926) Butler none none N.D. Ill. affirmed Wright v. Ynchausti and Company640 (1926) Taft none none Phil. affirmed United States v. Storrs652 (1926) Holmes none none D. Utah dismissed Dysart v. United States655 (1926) McReynolds none none 5th Cir. reversed Virginian Railway Company v. United States658 (1926) Brandeis none none S.D.W. Va. multiple Eastern Transportation Company v. United States675 (1927) Taft none none W.D. Va. reversed Postum Cereal Company v. California Fig Nut Company693 (1927) Taft none none D.C. Cir. dismissed - style="background: white" colspan=7 A proceeding in the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia under § 9 of the Trade-Mark Act of 1905 to review a decision of the Commissioner of Patents refusing to cancel the registration of a trademark, is an administrative matter, and not a "case" within the meaning of Article III of the Constitution. Los Angeles Brush Manufacturing Corporation v. James701 (1927) Taft none none S.D. Cal. mandamus denied Emmons Coal Mining Company v. Norfolk and Western Railroad Company709 (1927) Holmes none none 3d Cir. affirmed Miller v. City of Milwaukee713 (1927) Holmes Brandeis none E.D. Wis. reversed Steamship Willdomino v. Citro Chemical Company718 (1927) McReynolds none none 3d Cir. affirmed Garland's Heirs v. Choctaw Nation728 (1927) McReynolds none none Ct. Cl. affirmed De la Mettrie v. De Gasquet James731 (1927) McReynolds none none D.C. Cir. affirmed United States v. Gettinger and Pomerantz734 (1927) McReynolds none none N.D.N.Y. reversed

Notes and references

External links Case reports in volume 272 from Library of Congress Case reports in volume 272 from Court Listener Case reports in volume 272 from the Caselaw Access Project of Harvard Law School Case reports in volume 272 from Google Scholar Case reports in volume 272 from Justia Case reports in volume 272 from Open Jurist Website of the United States Supreme Court