# 2010 term United States Supreme Court opinions of Ruth Bader Ginsburg

* The 2010 term of the Supreme Court of the United States began October 4, 2010, and concluded October 1, 2011. This was the eighteenth term of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's tenure on the Court.
* Ruth Bader Ginsburg 2010 term statistics
* 9
* Majority or Plurality
* 7
* Concurrence
* 0
* Other
* 7
* Dissent
* 1
* Concurrence/dissent
* Total =
* 24
* Bench opinions = 23
* Opinions relating to orders = 1
* In-chambers opinions = 0
* Unanimous opinions: 2
* Most joined by: Breyer (15)
* Least joined by: Kennedy, Thomas (6)
| Type | Case | Citation | Issues | Joined by | Other opinions |
| 101 | Abbott v. United States • [full text] | 562 U.S. 8 (2010) | federal criminal law • mandatory sentencing • statutory interpretation • gun laws | Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Breyer, Alito, Sotomayor | |
| Ginsburg's opinion for the Court ruled that 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), which required a minimum five-year prison sentence for the involvement of a deadly weapon in federal drug trafficking or violent offenses, was to be imposed in addition to any other mandatory sentence given for another crime, including the underlying offense. The only exception to the five-year addition applied only when another provision required a longer mandatory term for conduct violating §924(c) specifically, rather than a mandatory sentence for another crime as the defendants had unsuccessfully argued. ||||||
| 202 | Harrington v. Richter | 562 U.S. 86 (2010) | Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 • habeas corpus • bar against relitigating claims • presumption of state court adjudication on merits • Sixth Amendment • ineffective assistance of counsel | | Kennedy |
| 203 | Premo v. Moore | 562 U.S. 115 (2010) | Sixth Amendment • ineffective assistance of counsel | | Kennedy |
| 204 | Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP | 562 U.S. 170 (2011) | Title VII • employer retaliation against third-party | Breyer | Scalia |
| 105 | Ortiz v. Jordan | 562 U.S. 180 (2011) | Federal Rules of Civil Procedure • appealability of denial of summary judgment motion after trial on the merits • qualified immunity • post-trial judicial review of sufficiency of the evidence | Roberts, Breyer, Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan | Thomas |
| 206 | Swarthout v. Cooke | 562 U.S. 216 (2011) | Due Process Clause • denial of parole | | per curiam |
| 107 | Walker v. Martin | 562 U.S. 307 (2011) | habeas corpus • independent and adequate state procedural ground as basis for state judgment | Unanimous | |
| 408 | Michigan v. Bryant | 562 U.S. 344 (2011) | Sixth Amendment • Confrontation Clause • hearsay exception for statements to help police address ongoing emergency | | Sotomayor Thomas Scalia |
| 109 | Skinner v. Switzer | 562 U.S. 521 (2011) | postconviction access to DNA testing • Section 1983 • Rooker–Feldman doctrine | Roberts, Scalia, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan | Thomas |
| 410 | Weise v. Casper • [full text] | 562 U.S. 976 (2010) | First Amendment • free speech • qualified immunity | Sotomayor | |
| Ginsburg filed a dissent from the Court's denial of certiorari. The plaintiffs had been ejected by volunteers, acting at the behest of the government, from a public speech by President George W. Bush because of an anti-war bumper sticker on the plaintiffs' car. The lower court ruled that the volunteers were entitled to qualified immunity because "no specific [judicial] authority" had given instructions on how to address the specific issue. Ginsburg wrote that the ejection was unreasonable and no "specific authority" should have been needed despite the novel facts of the case, because the Court's jurisprudence was quite clear that a benefit (access to the speech) could not be withheld on the basis of protected speech (the political bumper sticker). Ginsburg thought the volunteer status of the respondents in this appeal may have had some bearing on the Court's decision not to review the case, because the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997 may have shielded them from suit (although that was not the basis of the lower court's ruling). The lawsuit remained pending below against the government officials responsible for the plaintiffs' removal. Further reading Liptak, Adam (October 12, 2010), "Justices Turn Down Appeal Over Speech Ejections", The New York Times, retrieved October 12, 2010. ||||||
| 411 | Connick v. Thompson | 563 U.S. 51 (2011) | single violation as basis for Section 1983 claim • failure to make Brady disclosure • failure to train prosecutors | Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan | Thomas Scalia |
| 112 | Astra USA, Inc. v. Santa Clara County | 563 U.S. 110 (2011) | Public Health Service Act • price ceilings on pharmaceuticals sold to certain health care providers • provider cause of action for violation | Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Breyer, Alito, Sotomayor | |
| 413 | United States v. Tohono O'odham Nation | 563 U.S. 307 (2011) | Court of Federal Claims jurisdiction • separate suits based on same operative facts | | Kennedy Sotomayor |
| 414 | Schindler Elevator Corp. v. United States ex rel. Kirk | 563 U.S. 401 (2011) | False Claims Act • bar on qui tam suits based on public disclosures • Freedom of Information Act responses | Breyer, Sotomayor | Thomas |
| 415 | Kentucky v. King | 563 U.S. 452 (2011) | Fourth Amendment • exigent circumstances • police-created exigency | | Alito |
| 216 | Ashcroft v. al-Kidd | 563 U.S. 731 (2011) | material witness arrest of terrorism suspects • pretextual motivation • Fourth Amendment • qualified immunity | Breyer, Sotomayor | Scalia Kennedy Sotomayor |
| 217 | United States v. Jicarilla Apache Nation | 564 U.S. 162 (2011) | fiduciary exception to attorney–client privilege • general trust relationship between the United States and Indian tribes | Breyer | Alito Sotomayor |
| 218 | Bond v. United States | 564 U.S. 211 (2011) | Article III • standing • Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act of 1998 • Tenth Amendment | Breyer | Kennedy |
| 319 | Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes | 564 U.S. 338 (2011) | Title VII • class certification | Breyer, Sotomayor Kagan | Scalia |
| 120 | American Elec. Power Co. v. Connecticut | 564 U.S. 410 (2011) | Clean Air Act • power plant carbon dioxide emissions standards • federal common law nuisance claims | Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Breyer, Kagan | Alito |
| 121 | Bullcoming v. New Mexico | 564 U.S. 647 (2011) | Sixth Amendment • Confrontation Clause • forensic laboratory report as testimony | Scalia; Thomas, Sotomayor, Kagan (in part) | Sotomayor Kennedy |
| 122 | CSX Transp., Inc. v. McBride | 564 U.S. 685 (2011) | Federal Employers' Liability Act • railroad causation of employee injury | Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan; Thomas (in part) | Roberts |
| 423 | J. McIntyre Machinery, Ltd. v. Nicastro | 564 U.S. 873 (2011) | Fourteenth Amendment • Due Process Clause • personal jurisdiction over foreign manufacturer in state product liability suit • purposeful availment of the forum | Sotomayor, Kagan | Kennedy Breyer |
| 124 | Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S. A. v. Brown | 564 U.S. 915 (2011) | Fourteenth Amendment • Due Process Clause • personal jurisdiction • foreign corporation sued in domestic court | Unanimous | |