United States v. Raddatz

Holding that a trial judge's adoption of a magistrate judge's findings related to a suppression hearing does not violate due process "so long as the ultimate decision is made by the district court"

Panetti v. Quarterman

Holding that a petition raising a previously unripe claim of incompetency was not a second or successive petition under AEDPA

Felker v. Turpin

Holding that the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act's "restrictions . . . on second habeas petitions are well within the compass of [habeas's] evolutionary process, and . . . do not amount to a 'suspension' of the writ"

Munaf v. Geren

Holding that civilian U.S. citizens held in U.S. military custody in Iraq could petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal district court

Greenholtz v. Nebraska Penal Inmates

Holding the Constitution does not create a protected liberty interest in a prisoner's release prior to the expiration of a valid sentence

Heller v. Doe

Holding that courts must accept a legislature's generalizations under rational basis review "even when there is an imperfect fit between means and ends" or where the classification "is not made with mathematical nicety"

Plyler v. Doe

Holding that States cannot deny to illegal aliens the free public education they provide to citizens and legally documented aliens

Northern Pipeline Co. v. Marathon Pipe Line Co.

Holding that the Bankruptcy Act of 1978 was unconstitutional in part because it allowed bankruptcy courts to adjudicate state common law claims

Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain

Holding that no "private cause of action" had been Congressionally authorized, and thus, plaintiff was "not entitled to a remedy"

Boumediene v. Bush

Holding that enemy combatants are entitled to the privilege of habeas corpus

Section 636 - Jurisdiction, powers, and temporary assignment

Holding that when a party fails to object to a magistrate judge's report and recommendation, our review of the district court's resulting decision is for plain error so long as the party "has been served with notice that [this consequence] will result from a failure to object"

Rule 12 - Defenses and Objections: When and How Presented; Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings; Consolidating Motions; Waiving Defenses; Pretrial Hearing

Granting the court discretion to exclude matters outside the pleadings presented to the court in defense of a motion to dismiss

Section 2254 - State custody; remedies in Federal courts

Holding that "a determination of a factual issue made by a State court shall be presumed to be correct" and "[t]he applicant shall have the burden of rebutting the presumption of correctness by clear and convincing evidence"

Section 1331 - Federal question

Finding that in order to invoke federal question jurisdiction, a plaintiff's claims must arise "under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States."

Section 2241 - Power to grant writ

Granting courts authority to determine whether detention is "in violation of the . . . laws . . . of the United States"

Rule 81 - Applicability of the Rules in General; Removed Actions

Recognizing that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure "apply to proceedings for habeas corpus . . . to the extent that the practice in those proceedings: is not specified in a federal statute, the Rules Governing Section 2254 Cases, or the Rules Governing Section 2255 Cases; and (B) has previously conformed to the practice in civil actions."

Section 1350 - Alien's action for tort

Granting district courts jurisdiction over "any civil action . . . for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations"

Section 801 - Article 1. Definitions

Section 21 - Restraint, regulation, and removal