List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 277

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 Three of [the United States Constitution|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. Since 1789 Congress has varied the size of the Court from six to seven, nine, ten, and back to nine justices.
When the cases in volume 277 were decided the Court comprised the following nine members:

Portrait	Justice	Office	Home State	Succeeded	Date confirmed by the Senate	Tenure on Supreme Court
	William Howard Taft	Chief [Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States\|Chief Justice]	Connecticut	Edward Douglass White		– February 3, 1930
	Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.	Associate Justice	Massachusetts	Horace Gray		– January 12, 1932
	Willis Van Devanter	Associate Justice	Wyoming	Edward Douglass White		– June 2, 1937
	James Clark McReynolds	Associate Justice	Tennessee	Horace Harmon Lurton		– January 31, 1941
	Louis Brandeis	Associate Justice	Massachusetts	Joseph Rucker Lamar		– February 13, 1939
	George Sutherland	Associate Justice	Utah	John Hessin Clarke		– January 17, 1938
	Pierce Butler	Associate Justice	Minnesota	William R. Day		– November 16, 1939
	Edward Terry Sanford	Associate Justice	Tennessee	Mahlon Pitney		– March 8, 1930
	Harlan F. Stone	Associate Justice	New York	Joseph McKenna		– July 2, 1941

Notable Case in 277 U.S.

''Olmstead v. United States''

In Olmstead v. United States, , 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 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. 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	Dissenting opinion	Lower Court	Disposition
Blodgett v. Silberman		Taft	none	none	Conn. Super. Ct.	multiple
Williams v. Great Southern Lumber Company		Sanford	none	none	5th Cir.	affirmed
Brooke v. City of Norfolk		Holmes	none	none	Va.	reversed
Coffin Brothers and Company v. Bennett		Holmes	none	none	Ga.	affirmed
Louisville Gas and Electric Company v. Coleman		Sutherland	none	Holmes; Brandeis	Ky.	reversed
City of Gainesville v. Brown-Crummer Investment Company		Taft	none	none	5th Cir.	reversed
Dugan v. Ohio		Taft	none	none	Ohio	affirmed
Compania de Navegacion Interior, S.A. v. Fireman's Fund Insurance Company		Taft	none	none	5th Cir.	reversed
Gaines v. Washington		Taft	none	none	Wash.	dismissed
Ferry v. Ramsey		Holmes	none	Sutherland	Kan.	affirmed
L.P. Larson, Jr., Company v. W. Wrigley, Jr., Company		Holmes	none	none	7th Cir.	reversed
King Manufacturing Company v. City of Augusta		VanDevanter	none	Brandeis	Ga.	affirmed
Sultan Railway and Timber Company v. Washington State [Department of Labor and Industries\|Department of Labor and Industries of Washington]		VanDevanter	none	Brandeis	Wash.	affirmed
Hamburg-American Line Terminal and Navigation Company v. United States		McReynolds	none	none	Ct. Cl.	reversed
Long v. Rockwood		McReynolds	none	Holmes	Mass. Super. Ct.	affirmed
Plamals v. Steamship "Pinar Del Rio"		McReynolds	none	none	2d Cir.	affirmed
St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company v. Nattin		McReynolds	none	none	W.D. La.	affirmed
Standard Pipe Line Company v. Miller County Highway and Bridge District		McReynolds	none	none	8th Cir.	reversed
Sprout v. City of South Bend		Brandeis	none	none	Ind.	reversed
Great Northern Railroad Company v. United States		Brandeis	none	none	D. Minn.	affirmed
Nectow v. City of Cambridge		Sutherland	none	none	Mass.	reversed
Springer v. Government of the Philippine Islands		Sutherland	none	Holmes; McReynolds	Phil.	affirmed
Federal Intermediate Credit Bank of Columbia, South Carolina v. Mitchell		Butler	none	none	Fourth Circuit\|4th Cir.]	reversed
Panhandle Oil Company v. Mississippi ex rel. Knox		Butler	none	Holmes; McReynolds	Miss.	reversed
Buzynski v. [Luckenbach Steamship Company, Inc.]		Sanford	none	none	5th Cir.	reversed
United States v. Goldman		Sanford	none	none	S.D. Ohio	reversed
Reinecke v. Gardner		Stone	none	none	7th Cir.	certification
Holland Furniture Company v. Perkins Glue Company		Stone	none	none	6th Cir.	reversed
Jenkins v. National Surety Company		Stone	none	none	8th Cir.	reversed
Ex parte Williams		Brandeis	none	none	D. Neb.	mandamus denied
Willing v. Chicago Auditorium Association		Brandeis	Stone	none	7th Cir.	reversed
Baltimore and [Ohio Railroad] Company v. United States		Butler	none	none	N.D. Ill.	reversed
McCoy v. Shaw		Sanford	none	none	Okla.	dismissed
Southern Pacific Company v. Haglund		Sanford	none	none	9th Cir.	affirmed
Stipcich v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company		Stone	none	none	9th Cir.	reversed
The Malcolm Baxter, Jr.		Stone	none	none	2d Cir.	affirmed
Mellon, [Director General of Railroads v. Goodyear]		McReynolds	none	none	Kan.	reversed
Midland National Bank of Minneapolis v. Dakota Life Insurance Company		Brandeis	none	none	8th Cir.	reversed
Ribnik v. McBride		Sutherland	Sanford	Stone	New Jersey [Court of Errors and Appeals\|N.J.]	reversed
Reed v. Delaware County		Butler	none	none	3d Cir.	affirmed
Quaker City Cab Company v. Pennsylvania		Butler	none	Holmes; Brandeis; Stone	Pa.	reversed
National Leather Company v. Massachusetts		Sanford	none	McReynolds	Mass.	affirmed
Sisseton and Wahpeton Bands of Sioux Indians v. United States		Stone	none	none	Ct. Cl.	affirmed
Olmstead v. United States		Taft	none	Brandeis; Holmes; Butler; Stone	9th Cir.	affirmed
Kinney-Coastal Oil Company v. Kieffer		VanDevanter	none	none	8th Cir.	reversed
National Life Insurance Company v. United States		McReynolds	none	Brandeis; Stone	Ct. Cl.	reversed
Hemphill v. Orloff		McReynolds	none	none	Mich.	affirmed
Williamsport Wire Rope Company v. United States		Brandeis	none	none	Ct. Cl.	affirmed
Ex parte Collins		Brandeis	none	none	D. Ariz.	mandamus denied