This is a list of cases reported in volume 277 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1928.

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 277 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 277 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 Case in 277 U.S. Olmstead v. United States In Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928), the Supreme Court reviewed whether the use of wiretapped private telephone conversations, obtained by federal agents without judicial approval and subsequently used as evidence, constituted a violation of the defendant's rights provided by the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. The Court held that neither the Fourth Amendment nor the Fifth Amendment rights of the defendant were violated. This decision was overturned by Katz v. United States in 1967.

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 277 U.S.

Case Name Page and year Opinion of the Court Concurring opinion(s) Dissenting opinion(s) Lower Court Disposition Blodgett v. Silberman1 (1928) Taft none none Conn. Super. Ct. multiple Williams v. Great Southern Lumber Company19 (1928) Sanford none none 5th Cir. affirmed Brooke v. City of Norfolk27 (1928) Holmes none none Va. reversed Coffin Brothers and Company v. Bennett29 (1928) Holmes none none Ga. affirmed Louisville Gas and Electric Company v. Coleman32 (1928) Sutherland none Holmes; Brandeis Ky. reversed City of Gainesville v. Brown-Crummer Investment Company54 (1928) Taft none none 5th Cir. reversed Dugan v. Ohio61 (1928) Taft none none Ohio affirmed Compania de Navegacion Interior, S.A. v. Fireman's Fund Insurance Company66 (1928) Taft none none 5th Cir. reversed Gaines v. Washington81 (1928) Taft none none Wash. dismissed Ferry v. Ramsey88 (1928) Holmes none Sutherland Kan. affirmed L.P. Larson, Jr., Company v. W. Wrigley, Jr., Company97 (1928) Holmes none none 7th Cir. reversed King Manufacturing Company v. City of Augusta100 (1928) VanDevanter none Brandeis Ga. affirmed Sultan Railway and Timber Company v. Department of Labor and Industries of Washington135 (1928) VanDevanter none Brandeis Wash. affirmed Hamburg-American Line Terminal and Navigation Company v. United States138 (1928) McReynolds none none Ct. Cl. reversed Long v. Rockwood142 (1928) McReynolds none Holmes Mass. Super. Ct. affirmed Plamals v. Steamship "Pinar Del Rio"151 (1928) McReynolds none none 2d Cir. affirmed St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company v. Nattin157 (1928) McReynolds none none W.D. La. affirmed Standard Pipe Line Company v. Miller County Highway and Bridge District160 (1928) McReynolds none none 8th Cir. reversed Sprout v. City of South Bend163 (1928) Brandeis none none Ind. reversed Great Northern Railroad Company v. United States172 (1928) Brandeis none none D. Minn. affirmed Nectow v. City of Cambridge183 (1928) Sutherland none none Mass. reversed Springer v. Government of the Philippine Islands189 (1928) Sutherland none Holmes; McReynolds Phil. affirmed Federal Intermediate Credit Bank of Columbia, South Carolina v. Mitchell213 (1928) Butler none none 4th Cir. reversed Panhandle Oil Company v. Mississippi ex rel. Knox218 (1928) Butler none Holmes; McReynolds Miss. reversed Buzynski v. Luckenbach Steamship Company, Inc.226 (1928) Sanford none none 5th Cir. reversed United States v. Goldman229 (1928) Sanford none none S.D. Ohio reversed Reinecke v. Gardner239 (1928) Stone none none 7th Cir. certification Holland Furniture Company v. Perkins Glue Company245 (1928) Stone none none 6th Cir. reversed Jenkins v. National Surety Company258 (1928) Stone none none 8th Cir. reversed Ex parte Williams267 (1928) Brandeis none none D. Neb. mandamus denied Willing v. Chicago Auditorium Association274 (1928) Brandeis Stone none 7th Cir. reversed Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company v. United States291 (1928) Butler none none N.D. Ill. reversed McCoy v. Shaw302 (1928) Sanford none none Okla. dismissed Southern Pacific Company v. Haglund304 (1928) Sanford none none 9th Cir. affirmed Stipcich v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company311 (1928) Stone none none 9th Cir. reversed The Malcolm Baxter, Jr.323 (1928) Stone none none 2d Cir. affirmed Mellon, Director General of Railroads v. Goodyear335 (1928) McReynolds none none Kan. reversed Midland National Bank of Minneapolis v. Dakota Life Insurance Company346 (1928) Brandeis none none 8th Cir. reversed Ribnik v. McBride350 (1928) Sutherland Sanford Stone N.J. reversed Reed v. Delaware County376 (1928) Butler none none 3d Cir. affirmed Quaker City Cab Company v. Pennsylvania389 (1928) Butler none Holmes; Brandeis; Stone Pa. reversed National Leather Company v. Massachusetts413 (1928) Sanford none McReynolds Mass. affirmed Sisseton and Wahpeton Bands of Sioux Indians v. United States424 (1928) Stone none none Ct. Cl. affirmed Olmstead v. United States438 (1928) Taft none Brandeis; Holmes; Butler; Stone 9th Cir. affirmed Kinney-Coastal Oil Company v. Kieffer488 (1928) VanDevanter none none 8th Cir. reversed National Life Insurance Company v. United States508 (1928) McReynolds none Brandeis; Stone Ct. Cl. reversed Hemphill v. Orloff537 (1928) McReynolds none none Mich. affirmed Williamsport Wire Rope Company v. United States551 (1928) Brandeis none none Ct. Cl. affirmed Ex parte Collins565 (1928) Brandeis none none D. Ariz. mandamus denied

Notes and references

External links Case reports in volume 277 from Library of Congress Case reports in volume 277 from Court Listener Case reports in volume 277 from the Caselaw Access Project of Harvard Law School Case reports in volume 277 from Google Scholar Case reports in volume 277 from Justia Case reports in volume 277 from Open Jurist Website of the United States Supreme Court United States Courts website about the Supreme Court National Archives, Records of the Supreme Court of the United States American Bar Association, How Does the Supreme Court Work? The Supreme Court Historical Society