Overview of the 2004 Supreme Court Term

The Supreme Court ended its 2004 Term by strongly reaffirming the principle that government should not be in the business of promoting religion.

The end of the Term may also have signaled the end of an era, with rumors swirling that Chief Justice Rehnquist may soon step down after leading the Court for 19 years. Whether or not those rumors are accurate, it was a Term in which the Chief Justice was on the losing side of many of the ideological battles he has fought so vigorously throughout his judicial tenure.

"The Court's civil liberties record this year was a surprisingly positive one," said Steven R. Shapiro, the ACLU's national legal director. "In contrast to past years, the Justices seemed less anxious to undermine meaningful civil rights enforcement, more skeptical about the death penalty, and more willing to look at international law for whatever guidance it can provide in resolving fundamental human rights issues."

> Summary of 2004 Supreme Court Term
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Supreme Court Cases

Womens' Rights

Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales (Decided)

8/17/2011 - Reviewing whether a woman whose three children were killed after being abducted by her estranged husband can raise a procedural due process claim based on the Town of Castle Rock’s failure to enforce a protective order despite Colorado's mandatory arrest law. DECIDED

Criminal Justice, Rights of the Poor

Halbert v. Michigan (Decided)

1/11/2006 - Raising the same issue as Kowalski, which was dismissed on standing grounds. DECIDED

Religious Freedom

McCreary County v. ACLU (Decided)

6/27/2005 -

Prisoners' Rights, Racial Equality

Wilkinson v. Austin (Decided)

6/13/2005 - Reviewing the procedures required by due process before an Ohio prisoner can be transferred to the state's “Supermax” facility. DECIDED

Religious Freedom

Cutter v. Wilkinson (Decided)

5/31/2005 - Reviewing the constitutionality of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a federal law designed in part to protect the free exercise rights of prisoners and other institutionalized persons. DECIDED

Freedom of Expression

MGM Studios v. Grokster (Decided)

3/29/2005 - Reviewing whether the developers of software that allows for peer-to-peer file sharing can be held liable if that software is used by some consumers for copyright infringement when it is also capable of substantial non-infringing uses. DECIDED

Free Speech

FCC v. Brand X Internet Services (Decided)

3/29/2005 - Reviewing whether cable broadband services should be allowed to limit access to a single Internet Service Provider (ISP). DECIDED

Womens' Rights

Jackson v. City of Birmingham (Decided)

3/29/2005 - Reviewing whether whistleblowers are protected against retaliation under Title IX, which generally prohibits sex discrimination in schools. DECIDED

Death Penalty

Roper v. Simmons (Decided)

3/1/2005 - Challenging the constitutionality of the juvenile death penalty. DECIDED

Prisoners' Rights, Racial Equality

Garrison S. Johnson v. California (Decided)

2/23/2005 - Reviewing whether California's policy of racially segregating all new prisoners should be subject to strict judicial scrutiny. DECIDED

Prisoners' Rights, Racial Equality

Jay V. Johnson v. California (Decided)

2/18/2005 - Reviewing the procedure by which a defendant can establish that the prosecution improperly used its peremptory jury challenges in a racially discriminatory fashion. DECIDED

Immigrants' Rights

Muehler v. Mena (Decided)

11/29/2004 - Challenging the length, nature, and scope of the police detention of a lawful permanent resident during a police raid. DECIDED

Search and Seizure

Illinois v. Caballes (Decided)

11/10/2004 - Reviewing whether police can expand a routine traffic stop into a drug investigation by using a drug-sniffing dog in the absence of individualized suspicion. DECIDED

Government Secrecy

Kanter v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue (Decided)

9/8/2004 - Challenging Tax Court practice of basing decisions on secret reports of Special Trial Judges that are not disclosed to the parties. DECIDED

Criminal Justice, Rights of the Poor

Kowalski v. Tesmer (Decided)

9/8/2004 - Reviewing whether indigent criminal defendants in Michigan are entitled to appointed counsel on their first appeal, even if they plead guilty. DECIDED

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