List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 277

Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States
	38°53′26″N 77°00′16″W / 38.89056°N 77.00444°W
Established	March 4, 1789; 235 years ago
Location	Washington, D.C.
Coordinates	38°53′26″N 77°00′16″W / 38.89056°N 77.00444°W
Composition method	Presidential nomination with Senate confirmation
Authorised by	Constitution of the United States, Art. III, § 1
Judge term length	life tenure, subject to impeachment and removal
Number of positions	9 (by statute)
Website	supremecourt.gov

This is a list of cases reported in volume 277 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1928.

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 277 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).^[1] 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 277 were decided the Court comprised the following nine members:

Justice	Office	Home State	Succeeded	Date confirmed by the Senate (Vote)	Tenure on Supreme Court
William Howard Taft	Chief Justice	Connecticut	Edward Douglass White	June 30, 1921 (Acclamation)	July 11, 1921 – February 3, 1930 (Retired)
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.	Associate Justice	Massachusetts	Horace Gray	December 4, 1902 (Acclamation)	December 8, 1902 – January 12, 1932 (Retired)
Willis Van Devanter	Associate Justice	Wyoming	Edward Douglass White (as Associate Justice)	December 15, 1910 (Acclamation)	January 3, 1911 – June 2, 1937 (Retired)
James Clark McReynolds	Associate Justice	Tennessee	Horace Harmon Lurton	August 29, 1914 (44–6)	October 12, 1914 – January 31, 1941 (Retired)
Louis Brandeis	Associate Justice	Massachusetts	Joseph Rucker Lamar	June 1, 1916 (47–22)	June 5, 1916 – February 13, 1939 (Retired)
George Sutherland	Associate Justice	Utah	John Hessin Clarke	September 5, 1922 (Acclamation)	October 2, 1922 – January 17, 1938 (Retired)
Pierce Butler	Associate Justice	Minnesota	William R. Day	December 21, 1922 (61–8)	January 2, 1923 – November 16, 1939 (Died)
Edward Terry Sanford	Associate Justice	Tennessee	Mahlon Pitney	January 29, 1923 (Acclamation)	February 19, 1923 – March 8, 1930 (Died)
Harlan F. Stone	Associate Justice	New York	Joseph McKenna	February 5, 1925 (71–6)	March 2, 1925 – July 2, 1941 (Continued as chief justice)

Notable Case in 277 U.S.

Olmstead v. United States

In Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928), the Supreme Court reviewed whether the use of wiretapped private telephone conversations, obtained by federal agents without judicial approval and subsequently used as evidence, constituted a violation of the defendant’s rights provided by the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. The Court held that neither the Fourth Amendment nor the Fifth Amendment rights of the defendant were violated. This decision was overturned by Katz v. United States in 1967.

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 277 U.S.

Case Name	Page and year	Opinion of the Court	Concurring opinion(s)	Dissenting opinion(s)	Lower Court	Disposition
Blodgett v. Silberman	1 (1928)	Taft	none	none	Conn. Super. Ct.	multiple
Williams v. Great Southern Lumber Company	19 (1928)	Sanford	none	none	5th Cir.	affirmed
Brooke v. City of Norfolk	27 (1928)	Holmes	none	none	Va.	reversed
Coffin Brothers and Company v. Bennett	29 (1928)	Holmes	none	none	Ga.	affirmed
Louisville Gas and Electric Company v. Coleman	32 (1928)	Sutherland	none	Holmes; Brandeis	Ky.	reversed
City of Gainesville v. Brown-Crummer Investment Company	54 (1928)	Taft	none	none	5th Cir.	reversed
Dugan v. Ohio	61 (1928)	Taft	none	none	Ohio	affirmed
Compania de Navegacion Interior, S.A. v. Fireman's Fund Insurance Company	66 (1928)	Taft	none	none	5th Cir.	reversed
Gaines v. Washington	81 (1928)	Taft	none	none	Wash.	dismissed
Ferry v. Ramsey	88 (1928)	Holmes	none	Sutherland	Kan.	affirmed
L.P. Larson, Jr., Company v. W. Wrigley, Jr., Company	97 (1928)	Holmes	none	none	7th Cir.	reversed
King Manufacturing Company v. City of Augusta	100 (1928)	VanDevanter	none	Brandeis	Ga.	affirmed
Sultan Railway and Timber Company v. Department of Labor and Industries of Washington	135 (1928)	VanDevanter	none	Brandeis	Wash.	affirmed
Hamburg-American Line Terminal and Navigation Company v. United States	138 (1928)	McReynolds	none	none	Ct. Cl.	reversed
Long v. Rockwood	142 (1928)	McReynolds	none	Holmes	Mass. Super. Ct.	affirmed
Plamals v. Steamship "Pinar Del Rio"	151 (1928)	McReynolds	none	none	2d Cir.	affirmed
St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company v. Nattin	157 (1928)	McReynolds	none	none	W.D. La.	affirmed
Standard Pipe Line Company v. Miller County Highway and Bridge District	160 (1928)	McReynolds	none	none	8th Cir.	reversed
Sprout v. City of South Bend	163 (1928)	Brandeis	none	none	Ind.	reversed
Great Northern Railroad Company v. United States	172 (1928)	Brandeis	none	none	D. Minn.	affirmed
Nectow v. City of Cambridge	183 (1928)	Sutherland	none	none	Mass.	reversed
Springer v. Government of the Philippine Islands	189 (1928)	Sutherland	none	Holmes; McReynolds	Phil.	affirmed
Federal Intermediate Credit Bank of Columbia, South Carolina v. Mitchell	213 (1928)	Butler	none	none	4th Cir.	reversed
Panhandle Oil Company v. Mississippi ex rel. Knox	218 (1928)	Butler	none	Holmes; McReynolds	Miss.	reversed
Buzynski v. Luckenbach Steamship Company, Inc.	226 (1928)	Sanford	none	none	5th Cir.	reversed
United States v. Goldman	229 (1928)	Sanford	none	none	S.D. Ohio	reversed
Reinecke v. Gardner	239 (1928)	Stone	none	none	7th Cir.	certification
Holland Furniture Company v. Perkins Glue Company	245 (1928)	Stone	none	none	6th Cir.	reversed
Jenkins v. National Surety Company	258 (1928)	Stone	none	none	8th Cir.	reversed
Ex parte Williams	267 (1928)	Brandeis	none	none	D. Neb.	mandamus denied
Willing v. Chicago Auditorium Association	274 (1928)	Brandeis	Stone	none	7th Cir.	reversed
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company v. United States	291 (1928)	Butler	none	none	N.D. Ill.	reversed
McCoy v. Shaw	302 (1928)	Sanford	none	none	Okla.	dismissed
Southern Pacific Company v. Haglund	304 (1928)	Sanford	none	none	9th Cir.	affirmed
Stipcich v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company	311 (1928)	Stone	none	none	9th Cir.	reversed
The Malcolm Baxter, Jr.	323 (1928)	Stone	none	none	2d Cir.	affirmed
Mellon, Director General of Railroads v. Goodyear	335 (1928)	McReynolds	none	none	Kan.	reversed
Midland National Bank of Minneapolis v. Dakota Life Insurance Company	346 (1928)	Brandeis	none	none	8th Cir.	reversed
Ribnik v. McBride	350 (1928)	Sutherland	Sanford	Stone	N.J.	reversed
Reed v. Delaware County	376 (1928)	Butler	none	none	3d Cir.	affirmed
Quaker City Cab Company v. Pennsylvania	389 (1928)	Butler	none	Holmes; Brandeis; Stone	Pa.	reversed
National Leather Company v. Massachusetts	413 (1928)	Sanford	none	McReynolds	Mass.	affirmed
Sisseton and Wahpeton Bands of Sioux Indians v. United States	424 (1928)	Stone	none	none	Ct. Cl.	affirmed
Olmstead v. United States	438 (1928)	Taft	none	Brandeis; Holmes; Butler; Stone	9th Cir.	affirmed
Kinney-Coastal Oil Company v. Kieffer	488 (1928)	VanDevanter	none	none	8th Cir.	reversed
National Life Insurance Company v. United States	508 (1928)	McReynolds	none	Brandeis; Stone	Ct. Cl.	reversed
Hemphill v. Orloff	537 (1928)	McReynolds	none	none	Mich.	affirmed
Williamsport Wire Rope Company v. United States	551 (1928)	Brandeis	none	none	Ct. Cl.	affirmed
Ex parte Collins	565 (1928)	Brandeis	none	none	D. Ariz.	mandamus denied