# List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 215

This is a list of cases reported in volume 215 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1909 and 1910.

## Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 215 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 215 were decided the Court comprised the following members (during the period that these cases were being adjudicated, Justice Peckham died and Justice Lurton succeeded him):
| Justice | Office | Home State | Succeeded | Date confirmed by the Senate (Vote) | Tenure on Supreme Court |
| Melville Fuller | Chief Justice | Illinois | Morrison Waite | July 20, 1888 (41–20) | October 8, 1888 – July 4, 1910 (Died) |
| John Marshall Harlan | Associate Justice | Kentucky | David Davis | November 29, 1877 (Acclamation) | December 10, 1877 – October 14, 1911 (Died) |
| David Josiah Brewer | Associate Justice | Kansas | Stanley Matthews | December 18, 1889 (53–11) | January 6, 1890 – March 28, 1910 (Died) |
| Edward Douglass White | Associate Justice | Louisiana | Samuel Blatchford | February 19, 1894 (Acclamation) | March 12, 1894 – December 18, 1910 (Continued as chief justice) |
| Rufus W. Peckham | Associate Justice | New York | Howell Edmunds Jackson | December 9, 1895 (Acclamation) | January 6, 1896 – October 24, 1909 (Died) |
| Joseph McKenna | Associate Justice | California | Stephen Johnson Field | January 21, 1898 (Acclamation) | January 26, 1898 – January 5, 1925 (Retired) |
| Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. | Associate Justice | Massachusetts | Horace Gray | December 4, 1902 (Acclamation) | December 8, 1902 – January 12, 1932 (Retired) |
| William R. Day | Associate Justice | Ohio | George Shiras Jr. | February 23, 1903 (Acclamation) | March 2, 1903 – November 13, 1922 (Retired) |
| William Henry Moody | Associate Justice | Massachusetts | Henry Billings Brown | December 12, 1906 (Acclamation) | December 17, 1906 – November 20, 1910 (Retired) |
| Horace Harmon Lurton | Associate Justice | Tennessee | Rufus W. Peckham | December 20, 1909 (Acclamation) | January 3, 1910 – July 12, 1914 (Died) |

## 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.
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
* "C.C.D." = United States Circuit Court for the District of . . .
** e.g.,"C.C.D.N.J." = United States Circuit Court for the District of New Jersey
* "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.,"C.C.S.D.N.Y." = United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York
** 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 215 U.S.

| Case Name | Page & year | Opinion of the Court | Concurring opinion(s) | Dissenting opinion(s) | Lower Court | Disposition |
| Fall v. Eastin | 1 (1909) | McKenna | Holmes | none | Neb. | affirmed |
| Reavis v. Fianza | 16 (1909) | Holmes | none | none | Phil. | affirmed |
| United States v. Mescall | 26 (1909) | Brewer | none | none | C.C.E.D.N.Y. | reversed |
| Waterman v. Canal L.B. & T. Co. | 33 (1909) | Day | none | none | C.C.E.D. La. | reversed |
| United States v. Union Supply Co. | 50 (1909) | Holmes | none | none | D.N.J. | reversed |
| Fleming v. McCurtain | 56 (1909) | Holmes | none | none | C.C.E.D. Okla. | affirmed |
| Marbles v. Creecy | 63 (1909) | Harlan | none | none | C.C.E.D. Mo. | affirmed |
| McGilvra v. Ross | 70 (1909) | McKenna | none | none | 9th Cir. | reversed |
| Sylvester v. Washington | 80 (1909) | Holmes | none | none | Wash. | affirmed |
| El Paso & N.R.R. Co. v. Gutierrez | 87 (1909) | Day | none | none | Tex. | affirmed |
| ICC v. Stickney | 98 (1909) | Brewer | none | none | C.C.D. Minn. | affirmed |
| Hanover Nat'l Bank v. Suddath I | 110 (1909) | White | none | none | 2d Cir. | affirmed |
| Hanover Nat'l Bank v. Suddath II | 122 (1909) | White | none | none | 2d Cir. | affirmed |
| Kenney v. Craven | 125 (1909) | White | none | none | Mass. Super. Ct. | dismissed |
| The S.S. Jefferson | 130 (1909) | White | none | none | E.D. Va. | reversed |
| Scully v. Squier | 144 (1909) | McKenna | none | none | Sup. Ct. Idaho | affirmed |
| Rumford C.W. v. Hygienic C. Co. | 156 (1909) | Holmes | none | none | multiple | multiple |
| Steward v. American Lava Co. | 161 (1909) | Holmes | none | none | 6th Cir. | affirmed |
| Louisiana ex rel. Hubert v. City of New Orleans | 170 (1909) | Day | none | none | La. | reversed |
| Caliga v. Inter Ocean Newspaper Co. | 182 (1909) | Day | none | none | 7th Cir. | affirmed |
| United States v. Stevenson I | 190 (1909) | Day | none | none | D. Mass. | reversed |
| United States v. Stevenson II | 200 (1909) | Day | none | none | D. Mass. | reversed |
| Everett v. Everett | 203 (1909) | Harlan | none | none | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | dismissed |
| Baltimore & O.R.R. Co. v. ICC | 216 (1909) | Fuller | none | none | C.C.D. Md. | order set aside |
| Southern P. Co. v. ICC | 226 (1909) | Fuller | none | none | C.C.N.D. Cal. | dismissed |
| Yordi v. Nolte | 227 (1909) | Fuller | none | none | W.D. Tex. | affirmed |
| United States v. Corbett | 233 (1909) | White | none | none | W.D. Wis. | reversed |
| Lathrop, et al. Co. v. Interior C. & I. Co. | 246 (1909) | McKenna | none | none | C.C.W.D.N.Y. | reversed |
| Virginia C.C. Co. v. Kirven | 252 (1909) | McKenna | none | none | S.C. | affirmed |
| Snyder v. Rosenbaum | 261 (1909) | Holmes | none | none | Sup. Ct. Terr. Okla. | affirmed |
| Rio Grande D. & I. Co. v. United States | 266 (1909) | Harlan | none | none | Sup. Ct. Terr N.M. | affirmed |
| United States v. Celestine | 278 (1909) | Brewer | none | none | C.C.W.D. Wash. | reversed |
| United States v. Sutton | 291 (1909) | Brewer | none | none | E.D. Wash. | reversed |
| Santa Fé Cnty. v. New Mexico ex rel. Coler | 296 (1909) | McKenna | none | none | Sup. Ct. Terr. N.M. | affirmed |
| Illinois C.R.R. Co. v. Sheegog | 308 (1909) | Holmes | none | Day | Ky. | affirmed |
| Graves v. Ashburn | 331 (1909) | Holmes | none | none | 5th Cir. | reversed |
| Scott Cnty. M.R. Co. v. Missouri ex rel. Hines | 336 (1909) | Holmes | none | none | Mo. | affirmed |
| First Nat'l Bank v. City of Estherville | 341 (1910) | Fuller | none | none | Iowa | dismissed |
| Kuhn v. Fairmont Coal Co. | 349 (1910) | Harlan | none | Holmes | 4th Cir. | certification |
| Henley v. Myers | 373 (1910) | Harlan | none | none | Kan. | affirmed |
| Union P.R.R. Co. v. Harris | 386 (1910) | Brewer | none | none | Kan. | affirmed |
| Komada & Co. v. United States | 392 (1910) | Brewer | none | none | 9th Cir. | affirmed |
| Elias v. Ramirez | 398 (1910) | McKenna | none | none | Sup. Ct. Terr. Ariz. | reversed |
| Tiglao v. Philippines | 410 (1910) | Holmes | none | none | Phil. | affirmed |
| City of Minneapolis v. Minneapolis S.R.R. Co. | 417 (1910) | Day | none | none | C.C.D. Minn. | affirmed |
| Mechanical A. Co. v. Castleman | 437 (1910) | Day | none | none | C.C.E.D. Mo. | reversed |
| Haffner v. Dobrinski | 446 (1910) | Fuller | none | none | Sup. Ct. Terr Okla. | affirmed |
| ICC v. Illinois C.R.R. Co. | 452 (1910) | White | none | none | C.C.N.D. Ill. | reversed |
| ICC v. Chicago & A.R.R. Co. | 479 (1910) | White | none | none | C.C.N.D. Ill. | reversed |
| Baltimore & O.R.R. Co. v. United States ex rel. P.C. Co. | 481 (1910) | White | none | none | 4th Cir. | reversed |
| Macon Grocery Co. v. Atlantic C.L.R.R. Co. | 501 (1910) | White | none | Harlan | 5th Cir. | affirmed |
| North Dakota ex rel. Flaherty v. Hanson | 515 (1910) | White | none | none | N.D. | reversed |
| Brill v. Washington et al. Co. | 527 (1910) | Holmes | none | none | D.C. Cir. | affirmed |
| Mankin v. United States ex rel. Ludowici-C. Co. | 533 (1910) | Day | none | none | 5th Cir. | affirmed |
| O.N. Williams Co. v. United States | 541 (1910) | Fuller | none | none | 4th Cir. | affirmed |
| Wagg v. Herbert | 546 (1910) | Brewer | none | none | Sup. Ct. Terr Okla. | affirmed |
| Lowrey v. Hawaii | 554 (1910) | McKenna | none | none | Sup. Ct. Terr. Haw. | reversed |
| United States v. Shipp | 580 (1909) | Fuller | none | none | original | contempt sentences |