List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 279

This is a list of cases reported in volume 279 of United States Reports, decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1929.

Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 279 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. 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 279 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	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 279 U.S.

''United States v. Schwimmer''

United States v. Schwimmer,, concerned a pacifist applicant for naturalization who in the interview declared not to be willing to "take up arms personally" in defense of the United States. Originally found unable by the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to take the prescribed oath of allegiance, a decision reversed on appeal, the case was ultimately argued before the Supreme Court, which ruled against the applicant and so denied her the possibility of becoming a United States citizen.
In his dissenting opinion, Justice O.W. Holmes wrote:

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 279 U.S.

Case Name	Page & year	Opinion of the Court	Concurring opinion	Dissenting opinion	Lower Court	Disposition
Manley v. Georgia		Butler	none	none	Ga.	reversed
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company v. Koske		Butler	none	none	N.J.	reversed
McDonald v. United States		Butler	none	none	1st Cir.	affirmed
Morimura et al. Company v. Taback		Sanford	none	none	3d Cir.	reversed
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company v. Davis		Sanford	none	none	S.C.	reversed
Leonard v. United States		Stone	none	none	Ct. Cl.	affirmed
Nielsen v. Johnson		Stone	none	none	Iowa	reversed
Flink v. Paladini		Holmes	none	none	9th Cir.	affirmed
Lewis v. United States		Sanford	none	none	8th Cir.	affirmed
United States v. New York Central Railroad Company		Holmes	none	none	Ct. Cl.	affirmed
Spokane County v. United States		Taft	none	none	Wash.	affirmed
Carson Petroleum Company v. Vial		Taft	none	none	La.	reversed
London et al. Company v. California Industrial Accident Commission		Taft	none	none	Cal.	reversed
Sutter Butte Canal Company v. California Railroad Commission		Taft	none	none	Cal.	affirmed
Alberto v. Nicolas		Taft	none	none	Phil.	reversed
Ithaca Trust Company v. United States		Holmes	none	none	Ct. Cl.	reversed
United States Printing Company v. Griggs, C. and Company		Holmes	none	none	Ohio	reversed
Gilchrist v. Interborough Rapid Transit Company		McReynolds	none	none	S.D.N.Y.	reversed
Pampanga Sugar Mills v. Trinidad		Brandeis	none	none	Phil.	affirmed
Riehle v. Margolies		Brandeis	none	none	2d Cir.	affirmed
Alabama v. United States		Sutherland	none	none	N.D. Ala.	affirmed
Karnuth v. United States ex rel. Albro		Sutherland	none	none	2d Cir.	reversed
Helson v. Kentucky		Sutherland	Stone	none	Ky.	reversed
Highland v. Russell Car Snow Plow Company		Butler	none	none	Pa.	affirmed
Sinclair v. United States		Butler	none	none	D.C. Cir.	affirmed
Grayson v. Harris		Sanford	none	none	Okla.	reversed
Compañia General v. Collector of Internal Revenue		Stone	none	none	Phil.	affirmed
New York Central Railroad Company v. Johnson		Stone	none	none	8th Cir.	reversed
Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company v. Chatters		Stone	none	none	5th Cir.	reversed
Weiss v. Weiner		Holmes	none	none	6th Cir.	reversed
Roschen v. Ward		Holmes	none	none	S.D.N.Y.	affirmed
Posados v. Warner, Barnes and Company		Butler	none	none	Phil.	reversed
Ex parte Worcester County National Bank		Taft	none	none	Worcester Cnty. Prob. Ct.	affirmed
United States v. Fruit Growers Express Company		Taft	none	none	W.D. Pa.	affirmed
United States v. J. Barth Company		Taft	none	none	7th Cir.	reversed
Douglas v. New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company		Holmes	none	none	N.Y. Sup. Ct.	affirmed
Becher v. Contoure Laboratories, Inc.		Holmes	none	none	2d Cir.	affirmed
Leonard v. Earle		McReynolds	none	none	Md.	affirmed
United States ex rel. Claussen v. Day		Butler	none	none	2d Cir.	affirmed
United States v. Galveston et al. Railroad Company		Butler	none	none	Ct. Cl.	affirmed
Morris and Company v. Skandinavia Insurance Company		Butler	none	none	5th Cir.	affirmed
Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad Company v. Rock		Butler	none	none	Ill. App. Ct.	reversed
Central New England Railway Company v. Boston and Albany Railroad Company		Stone	none	none	Suffolk Cnty. Super. Ct.	affirmed
New York v. Latrobe		Stone	none	none	3d Cir.	reversed
International Shoe Company v. Shartel		Stone	none	none	W.D. Mo.	affirmed
United States v. American et al. Company		Holmes	none	none	W.D. Okla.	reversed
Ex parte Bakelite Corporation		VanDevanter	none	none	Ct. Cust. App.	prohibition denied
St. Louis & O.R.R. Co. v. United States		McReynolds	none	Brandeis; Stone	E.D. Mo.	reversed
United States v. California C.C.		Brandeis	none	none	D.C. Cir.	reversed
St. Louis–San Francisco Railway Company v. Alabama Public Service Commission		Brandeis	none	none	M.D. Ala.	vacated
W.A. Marshall and Company v. The President Arthur		Sanford	none	none	2d Cir.	affirmed
Lucas v. Alexander		Stone	none	none	6th Cir.	affirmed
Standard Oil Company v. City of Marysville		Stone	none	none	8th Cir.	affirmed
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company v. Stapleton		Taft	none	none	Ky.	reversed
Barry v. United States ex rel. Cunningham		Sutherland	none	none	3d Cir.	reversed
Macallen Company v. Massachusetts		Sutherland	none	none	Mass.	reversed
Western and Atlantic Railroad Company v. Henderson		Butler	none	none	Ga.	reversed
United States v. Schwimmer		Butler	none	Holmes	7th Cir.	reversed
The Pocket Veto Case		Sanford	none	none	Ct. Cl.	affirmed
White River Lumber Company v. Arkansas ex rel. Applegate		Sanford	none	Butler	Ark.	affirmed
Gulf Refining Company v. Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company		Stone	none	none	2d Cir.	affirmed
Old Colony Trust Company v. Commissioner		Taft	none	McReynolds	1st Cir.	certification
United States v. Boston and Maine Railroad Company		Taft	none	none	1st Cir.	certification
AAONMS v. Michaux		VanDevanter	none	none	Tex.	reversed
Sinclair v. United States		McReynolds	none	none	D.C. Cir.	multiple
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company v. United States		Brandeis	none	none	N.D. Ill.	affirmed
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company v. United States		Butler	none	none	N.D. Ill.	reversed
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company v. Driggers		Sanford	none	none	S.C.	reversed
Maryland Casualty Company v. Jones		Sanford	none	none	9th Cir.	reversed
Kirk v. Maumee Valley Electric Company		Stone	none	none	S.D. Ohio	reversed
Kirk v. Providence Mill Company		Stone	none	none	S.D. Ohio	reversed
Ohio Oil Company v. Conway		per curiam	none	none	E.D. La.	vacated