List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 261
# List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 261

This is a list of cases reported in volume 261 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1923.

## Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 261 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 261 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) |
| 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) |
| 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) |

## Notable cases in 261 U.S.

### Moore v. Dempsey

In Moore v. Dempsey, 261 U.S. 86 (1923), the Supreme Court held that the African-American defendants' mob-dominated trials deprived them of due process guaranteed by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. It reversed the U.S. district court's decision declining the petitioners' writ of habeas corpus. This case was a precedent for the Supreme Court's review of state criminal trials in terms of their compliance with the Bill of Rights. Moore is a significant precedent for wider use of federal writs of habeas corpus to review state court convictions that occurred under conditions abridging federal constitutional rights. It marked the beginning of stricter scrutiny by the Supreme Court of state criminal trials in terms of their compliance with the Bill of Rights. This ruling reduced the capacity of a local community "to permanently deprive or deny the rights of those who might be prosecuted in its courts."

### United States v. Thind

United States v. Thind, 261 U.S. 204 (1923), is a Supreme Court decision that Bhagat Singh Thind, an Indian Sikh man who identified himself as an Aryan, was ineligible for naturalized citizenship in the United States. Thind had filed a petition for naturalization under the Naturalization Act of 1906 which allowed only "free white persons" and "aliens of African nativity and persons of African descent" to become United States citizens by naturalization. After his petition was granted, government attorneys initiated a proceeding to cancel Thind's naturalization. Thind did not challenge the constitutionality of the racial restrictions. Instead, he attempted to be classified as a "free white person" within the meaning of the Naturalization Act based on the fact that Indians and Europeans share common descent from Proto-Indo-Europeans. The Supreme Court rejected Thind's argument, adding that Thind did not meet a "common sense" definition of white. The Court concluded that "the term 'Aryan' has to do with linguistic, and not with physical characteristics.

### Adkins v. Children's Hospital

In Adkins v. Children's Hospital, 261 U.S. 525 (1923), the Supreme Court ruled that federal minimum wage legislation for women was an unconstitutional infringement of liberty of contract, as protected by the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. Adkins was eventually overturned in the 1937 decision West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish.

## 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 261 U.S.

| Case Name | Page and year | Opinion of the Court | Concurring opinion(s) | Dissenting opinion(s) | Lower Court | Disposition |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Gorham Manufacturing Company v. Wendell | 1 (1923) | Taft | none | none | S.D.N.Y. | motions granted |
| Vandenburgh v. Truscon Steel Company | 6 (1923) | Taft | none | none | 6th Cir. | affirmed |
| Concrete Steel Company v. Vendenburgh | 16 (1923) | Taft | none | none | 2d Cir. | reversed |
| Charles Nelson Company v. United States | 17 (1923) | Taft | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| Crown Die and Tool Company v. Nye Tool and Machine Works | 24 (1923) | Taft | none | none | 7th Cir. | reversed |
| Eibel Process Company v. Minnesota and Ontario Paper Company | 45 (1923) | Taft | none | none | 1st Cir. | reversed |
| Pennsylvania Railroad Company v. United States Railroad Labor Board | 72 (1923) | Taft | none | none | 7th Cir. | affirmed |
| Moore v. Dempsey | 86 (1923) | Holmes | none | McReynolds | E.D. Ark. | reversed |
| Diaz v. Gonzalez | 102 (1923) | Holmes | none | none | 1st Cir. | reversed |
| United States Grain Corporation v. Phillips | 106 (1923) | Holmes | none | none | 2d Cir. | reversed |
| Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Company | 114 (1923) | VanDevanter | none | none | Ind. | dismissed |
| Great Northern Railroad Company v. Steinke | 119 (1923) | VanDevanter | none | none | N.D. | reversed |
| Kansas City Southern Railway Company v. Wolf | 133 (1923) | McReynolds | none | none | 8th Cir. | reversed |
| Minnesota Commercial Men's Association v. Benn | 140 (1923) | McReynolds | none | none | Minn. | reversed |
| United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation v. Sullivan | 146 (1923) | McReynolds | none | none | Pa. Super. Ct. | dismissed |
| Durham Public Service Company v. City of Durham | 149 (1923) | McReynolds | none | none | N.C. | affirmed |
| Valley Farms Company of Yonkers v. Westchester County | 155 (1923) | McReynolds | none | none | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | affirmed |
| Douglas v. Noble | 165 (1923) | Brandeis | none | none | W.D. Wash. | reversed |
| Bank of America v. Whitney Central National Bank | 171 (1923) | Brandeis | none | none | S.D.N.Y. | affirmed |
| Lumiere v. Mae Edna Wilder, Inc. | 174 (1923) | Brandeis | none | none | S.D.N.Y. | affirmed |
| Price Fire and Water Proofing Company v. United States | 179 (1923) | Brandeis | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| New England Divisions Case | 184 (1923) | Brandeis | none | none | S.D.N.Y. | affirmed |
| United States v. Thind | 204 (1923) | Sutherland | none | none | 9th Cir. | certification |
| Brownlow v. Schwartz | 216 (1923) | Sutherland | none | none | D.C. Cir. | reversed |
| Cramer v. United States | 219 (1923) | Sutherland | none | none | 9th Cir. | reversed |
| Columbia Railway, Gas and Electric Company v. South Carolina | 236 (1923) | Sutherland | none | none | S.C. | reversed |
| Randall v. Tippecanoe County | 252 (1923) | Sutherland | none | none | Ind. | dismissed |
| United States v. Oklahoma | 253 (1923) | Butler | none | none | original | dismissed |
| Western and Atlantic Railroad v. Railroad Commission of Georgia | 264 (1923) | Butler | none | none | N.D. Ga. | order vacated |
| Paducah v. Paducah Railroad Company | 267 (1923) | Butler | none | none | W.D. Ky. | affirmed |
| Munter v. Weil Corset Company, Inc. | 276 (1923) | McKenna | none | none | D. Conn. | reversed |
| Davis v. Dantzler Lumber Company | 280 (1923) | McKenna | none | none | Miss. | reversed |
| Oklahoma Natural Gas Company v. Russell | 290 (1923) | Holmes | none | none | W.D. Okla. | reversed |
| United States v. Benedict | 294 (1923) | McReynolds | none | none | 2d Cir. | affirmed |
| Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company v. United States | 299 (1923) | Butler | none | none | 4th Cir. | reversed |
| Pothier v. Rodman | 307 (1923) | Taft | none | none | D.R.I. | docketing denied |
| City of New York v. New York Telephone Company | 312 (1923) | Taft | none | none | S.D.N.Y. | dismissed |
| United States v. Allen | 317 (1923) | McKenna | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| United States v. Moran | 321 (1923) | McKenna | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| Ewen v. American Fidelity Company | 322 (1923) | Holmes | none | none | 2d Cir. | reversed |
| Fox Film Corporation v. Knowles | 326 (1923) | Holmes | none | none | 2d Cir. | reversed |
| Pullman Company v. Richardson | 330 (1923) | VanDevanter | none | none | Cal. | affirmed |
| Oklahoma v. Texas | 340 (1923) | per curiam | none | none | original | boundary set |
| Work v. United States ex rel. Mosier | 352 (1923) | Taft | none | none | D.C. Cir. | reversed |
| United States v. Rider | 363 (1923) | Taft | none | none | Ct. Cl. | reversed |
| St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Company v. Public Service Commission of Missouri | 369 (1923) | McKenna | none | none | Mo. | reversed |
| Federal Land Bank of New Orleans v. Crosland | 374 (1923) | Holmes | none | none | Ala. | reversed |
| Arkansas Natural Gas Company v. Arkansas Railroad Commission | 379 (1923) | Sutherland | none | none | E.D. Ark. | affirmed |
| Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company v. United States | 385 (1923) | Sanford | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| Layne and Bowler Corporation v. Western Well Works, Inc. | 387 (1923) | Taft | none | none | 9th Cir. | dismissed |
| Hallanan v. Eureka Pipe Line Company | 393 (1923) | Taft | none | none | W. Va. | dismissed |
| Hallanan v. United Fuel Gas Company | 398 (1923) | Taft | none | none | W. Va. | dismissed |
| Toledo Scale Company v. Computing Scale Company | 399 (1923) | Taft | none | none | 7th Cir. | affirmed |
| Keller v. Potomac Electric Power Company | 428 (1923) | Taft | none | none | D.C. Cir. | dismissed |
| Page Company v. Macdonald | 446 (1923) | McKenna | none | none | D. Mass. | affirmed |
| Phipps v. Cleveland Refining Company | 449 (1923) | McKenna | none | none | S.D. Ohio | affirmed |
| Gardner v. Chicago Title and Trust Company | 453 (1923) | Holmes | none | none | 7th Cir. | reversed |
| Wabash Railroad Company v. Elliott | 457 (1923) | VanDevanter | none | none | Mo. Ct. App. | reversed |
| Federal Trade Commission v. Sinclair Refining Company | 463 (1923) | McReynolds | none | none | multiple | affirmed |
| Hartford Life Insurance Company v. Douds | 476 (1923) | McReynolds | none | none | Ohio | affirmed |
| Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company v. Kierejewski | 479 (1923) | McReynolds | none | none | W.D.N.Y. | affirmed |
| Thomas v. Kansas City Southern Railway Company | 481 (1923) | Brandeis | none | none | 8th Cir. | affirmed |
| Robinson v. United States | 486 (1923) | Brandeis | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| Pusey and Jones Company v. Hanssen | 491 (1923) | Brandeis | none | none | 3d Cir. | reversed |
| Omnia Commercial Company, Inc. v. United States | 502 (1923) | Sutherland | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| Russell Motor Car Company v. United States | 514 (1923) | Sutherland | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| Adkins v. Children's Hospital | 525 (1923) | Sutherland | none | Taft; Holmes | D.C. Cir. | affirmed |
| Watkins v. Sedberry | 571 (1923) | Butler | none | none | 6th Cir. | reversed |
| Hanson Lumber Company, Ltd. v. United States | 581 (1923) | Butler | none | none | 5th Cir. | affirmed |
| New York ex rel. Doyle v. Atwell | 590 (1923) | Sanford | none | none | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | dismissed |
| Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company v. United States | 592 (1923) | Sanford | none | none | Ct. Cl. | affirmed |
| Hodges v. Snyder | 600 (1923) | Sanford | none | none | Kingsbury County Cir. Ct. | affirmed |
