This is a list of cases reported in volume 253 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1920.

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 253 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 253 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 Edward Douglass White Chief Justice Louisiana Melville Fuller (Acclamation) –May 19, 1921(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) Willis Van Devanter Associate Justice Wyoming Edward Douglass White (as Associate Justice) (Acclamation) –June 2, 1937(Retired) Mahlon Pitney Associate Justice New Jersey John Marshall Harlan (50–26) –December 31, 1922(Resigned) 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) John Hessin Clarke Associate Justice Ohio Charles Evans Hughes (Acclamation) –September 18, 1922(Retired)

Notable Case in 253 U.S. Hawke v. Smith Hawke v. Smith, 253 U.S. 221 (1920), was a challenge to the constitutionality of a state referendum to overturn the Ohio legislature's vote to adopt the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (the "Prohibition Amendment"). The Supreme Court held that while states may allow their legislatures' actions to be reversed through popular votes, that did not apply to the adoption of federal constitutional amendments since that power was granted to the legislatures by the United States Constitution, and the Constitution did not provide for any role to be played by the people in the consideration of amendments.

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 253 U.S. Case Name Page and year Opinion of the Court Concurring opinion(s) Dissenting opinion(s) Lower Court Disposition United States v. Atlanta Dredging Company 1 (1920) McKenna none none Ct. Cl. affirmed Maguire v. Trefry 12 (1920) Day none none Mass. Super. Ct. affirmed Ward v. Love County 17 (1920) VanDevanter none none Oklahoma reversed Broadwell v. Carter County 25 (1920) VanDevanter none none Okla. reversed United States v. Reading Company 26 (1920) Clarke none White E.D. Pa. multiple Wallace v. Hines 66 (1920) Holmes none none D.N.D. affirmed Great Northern Railroad Company v. Cahill 71 (1920) White none none S.D. reversedErie Railroad Company v. Collins 77 (1920) McKenna none none 2d Cir. affirmedErie Railroad Company v. Szary 86 (1920) McKenna none none 2d Cir. affirmed White v. Chin Fong 90 (1920) McKenna none none 9th Cir. affirmed Leary v. United States 94 (1920) Holmes none none 4th Cir. affirmed Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company v. McCaull-Dinsmore Company 97 (1920) Holmes none none 8th Cir. affirmed Western Union Telegraph Company v. Brown 101 (1920) Day none none 9th Cir. reversed United States v. Alaska Steamship Co. 113 (1920) Day none none S.D.N.Y. reversed Spiller v. Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company 117 (1920) Pitney none none 8th Cir. reversed Meccano, Ltd. v. John Wanamaker, New York 136 (1920) McReynolds none none 2d Cir. affirmed O'Connell v. United States 142 (1920) McReynolds none none N.D. Cal. affirmed Knickerbocker Ice Company v. Stewart 149 (1920) McReynolds none Holmes N.Y. Sup. Ct. reversed Calhoun v. Massie 170 (1920) Brandeis none McReynolds Va. affirmed Newman v. Moyers 182 (1920) Brandeis none none D.C. Cir. multiple Bliss Company v. United States 187 (1920) Clarke none none Ct. Cl. affirmed Piedmont Power and Light Company v. Town of Graham 193 (1920) Clarke none none W.D.N.C. dismissed United States v. MacMillan 195 (1920) White none none 7th Cir. affirmed Fort Smith and Western Railroad Company v. Mills 206 (1920) Holmes none none W.D. Ark. reversed United States ex rel. Johnson v. Payne 209 (1920) Holmes none none D.C. Cir. affirmed Fidelity Title and Trust Company v. Dubois Electric Company 212 (1920) Holmes none none 3d Cir. reversed LeCrone v. McAdoo 217 (1920) Holmes none none D.C. Cir. dismissed City of New York v. Consolidated Gas Company of New York 219 (1920) Day none none 2d Cir. reversed Hawke v. Smith I 221 (1920) Day none none Ohio reversed Hawke v. Smith II 231 (1920) Day none none Ohio reversed Green v. Frazier 233 (1920) Day none none N.D. affirmed Scott v. Frazier 243 (1920) Day none none D.N.D. reversed Evans v. Gore 245 (1920) VanDevanter none Holmes W.D. Ky. reversed Weidhorn v. Levy 268 (1920) Pitney none none 1st Cir. reversed United States v. Omaha Tribe 275 (1920) Pitney none none Ct. Cl. multiple Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company v. Hancock 284 (1920) McReynolds none none Pa. reversed Ohio Valley Water Company v. Ben Avon Borough 287 (1920) McReynolds none Brandeis Pa. reversed Ex parte Peterson 300 (1920) Brandeis none none S.D.N.Y. mandamus denied Pennsylvania Railroad Company v. Kittanning Iron and Steel Manufacturing Company 319 (1920) Brandeis none none Pa. reversed Cream of Wheat Company v. Grand Forks County 325 (1920) Brandeis none none N.D. affirmed United States v. North American Transportation and Trading Company 330 (1920) Brandeis none none Ct. Cl. affirmed Stallings v. Splain 339 (1920) Brandeis none none D.C. Cir. affirmed Porto Rico (sic) Railway, Light and Power Company v. Mor 345 (1920) Brandeis none none 1st Cir. certification National Prohibition Cases 350 (1920) VanDevanter White; McReynolds McKenna; Clarke multiple various Royster Guano Company v. Virginia 412 (1920) Pitney none Brandeis Va. reversed Federal Trade Commission v. Gratz 421 (1920) McReynolds none Brandeis 2d Cir. affirmed Nadeau v. Union Pacific Railroad Company 442 (1920) McReynolds none none D. Kan. affirmed Beidler v. United States 447 (1920) Clarke none none Ct. Cl. affirmed Kwock Jan Fat v. White 454 (1920) Clarke none none 9th Cir. reversed

Notes and references

External links Case reports in volume 253 from Library of Congress Case reports in volume 253 from Court Listener Case reports in volume 253 from the Caselaw Access Project of Harvard Law School Case reports in volume 253 from Google Scholar Case reports in volume 253 from Justia Case reports in volume 253 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