2018 term United States Supreme Court opinions of Stephen Breyer

The 2018 term of the Supreme Court of the United States began October 1, 2018, and concluded October 6, 2019. This was the twenty-fifth term of Associate Justice Stephen Breyer's tenure on the Court.
Stephen Breyer 2018 term statistics 8 Majority or Plurality 2 Concurrence 2 Other 9 Dissent 4 Concurrence/dissent Total = 25 Bench opinions = 20 Opinions relating to orders = 5 In-chambers opinions = 0 Unanimous opinions: 3 Most joined by: Ginsburg (14 in full, 1 in part) Least joined by: Thomas, Alito, Kavanaugh (4)

Type	Case	Citation	Issues	Joined by	Other opinions
501	Reynolds v. Florida	586 U.S. ___ (2018)	Eighth Amendment  • capital punishment  • jury instructions		Thomas Sotomayor
Breyer filed a statement respecting the Court's denial of certiorari.
102	United States v. Stitt	586 U.S. ___ (2018)	Armed Career Criminal Act  • definition of "burglary" as prior conviction	Unanimous
403	Jam v. International Finance Corp.	586 U.S. ___ (2019)	International Organizations Immunities Act  • relationship to Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act		Roberts
Kavanaugh did not participate.
104	Washington State Dept. of Licensing v. Cougar Den, Inc.	586 U.S. ___ (2019)	Yakama Nation Treaty of 1855  • state taxation of fuel importers	Sotomayor, Kagan	Gorsuch Roberts Kavanaugh
405	Nielsen v. Preap	586 U.S. ___ (2019)	Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996  • detention of aliens without bond for commission of certain crimes	Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan	Alito Thomas Kavanaugh
106	Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP	586 U.S. ___ (2019)	Fair Debt Collection Practices Act  • nonjudicial foreclosure proceedings	Unanimous	Sotomayor
107	Lorenzo v. SEC	587 U.S. ___ (2019)	securities fraud  • SEC Rule 10b-5  • dissemination of false or misleading statements	Roberts, Ginsburg, Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan	Thomas
408	Bucklew v. Precythe	587 U.S. ___ (2019)	Eighth Amendment  • death penalty  • challenges to method of execution	Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan (in part)	Gorsuch Thomas Kavanaugh Sotomayor
409	Dunn v. Price	587 U.S. ___ (2019)	Eighth Amendment  • capital punishment  • risk of substantial pain and suffering	Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan
Breyer dissented from the Court's vacatur of a stay of execution.
410	Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela	587 U.S. ___ (2019)	Federal Arbitration Act  • contractual agreement to class action arbitration		Roberts Thomas Ginsburg Sotomayor Kagan
411	Franchise Tax Bd. of Cal. v. Hyatt	587 U.S. ___ (2019)	sovereign immunity  • private suits against states in courts of other states	Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan	Thomas
112	Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. v. Albrecht	587 U.S. ___ (2019)	FDA approval of pharmaceutical labeling  • preemption of state failure-to-warn law	Thomas, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch	Thomas Alito
413	Price v. Dunn	587 U.S. ___ (2019)	Eighth Amendment  • death penalty  • challenges to method of execution	Ginsburg; Sotomayor, Kagan (in part)
Breyer dissented from the Court's denial of an application for a stay.
114	Taggart v. Lorenzen	587 U.S. ___ (2019)	bankruptcy law  • Chapter 7  • civil contempt for violation of discharge order	Unanimous
415	Azar v. Allina Health Services	587 U.S. ___ (2019)	Medicare Act  • notice-and-comment rulemaking requirement		Gorsuch
416	Return Mail, Inc. v. Postal Service	587 U.S. ___ (2019)	patent law  • Leahy-Smith America Invents Act of 2011  • eligibility of federal government to initiate Patent Trial and Appeal Board post-patent issuance review	Ginsburg, Kagan	Sotomayor
517	Al-Alwi v. Trump	587 U.S. ___ (2019)	Authorization for Use of Military Force  • indefinite detention of enemy combatants
Breyer filed a statement respecting the Court's denial of certiorari.
118	PDR Network, LLC v. Carlton Harris Chiropractic, Inc.	588 U.S. ___ (2019)	Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991  • unsolicited advertisement by fax  • Administrative Orders Review Act	Roberts, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan	Thomas Kavanaugh
219	American Legion v. American Humanist Assn.	588 U.S. ___ (2019)	First Amendment  • Establishment Clause  • cross as public war memorial	Kagan	Alito Thomas Kagan Gorsuch Kavanaugh Ginsburg
120	Rehaif v. United States	588 U.S. ___ (2019)	federal firearms laws  • firearm possession by alien in country illegally  • scienter	Roberts, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh	Alito
321	Iancu v. Brunetti	588 U.S. ___ (2019)	trademark law  • Lanham Act  • registration of immoral or scandalous trademarks  • First Amendment  • free spech		Kagan Alito Roberts Sotomayor
322	Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media	588 U.S. ___ (2019)	Freedom of Information Act  • confidential commercial information exemption	Ginsburg, Sotomayor	Gorsuch
223	United States v. Haymond	588 U.S. ___ (2019)	Fifth Amendment  • Sixth Amendment  • right to jury trial  • mandatory minimum sentence for possession of child pornography  • judicial finding of fact		Gorsuch Alito
324	Department of Commerce v. New York	588 U.S. ___ (2019)	addition of citizenship question to 2020 United States Census  • Article I  • Enumeration Clause  • Administrative Procedures Act  • Article III  • standing	Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan	Roberts Thomas Alito
325	Trump v. Sierra Club	588 U.S. ___ (2019)	Trump wall  • National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States  • irreparable harm
Breyer concurred in part and dissented in part from the grant of a stay.

References

• 2018 Term Opinions of the Court, Supreme Court of the United States, retrieved October 7, 2019.
• 2018 Term Opinions Relating to Orders, Supreme Court of the United States, retrieved October 7, 2019.
• 2018 Term In-Chambers Opinions, Supreme Court of the United States, retrieved October 7, 2019.