Here, in summary, are some of the major decisions from the just-concluded 1990-91 Supreme Court term.
- In Board of Education vs. Dowell, the court said school districts may end court-imposed racial desegregation plans after they achieve full integration, even if abandoning the plans will result in "resegregation." The vote was 5-3.- In International Union vs. Johnson Controls, the court said women of child-bearing age may not be barred from hazardous jobs by employers seeking to protect fetuses. The court split 5-4 in ruling that fetal protection plans affecting all such women never can be legal.
- In Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vs. Arabian American Oil, the court, 6-3, ruled that the federal law barring employment discrimination does not apply to U.S. employees of U.S. firms working outside the country.
- In Arizona vs. Fulminante, the court said using confessions coerced from defendants as evidence against them, although always unlawful, sometimes may be deemed harmless error. The vote was 5-4.
- In Rust vs. Sullivan, the court voted 5-4 in saying the government may ban federally subsidized family planning clinics from counseling clients about abortion, or even telling clients where they may obtain abortions.
- In Florida vs. Bostick, the court, 6-3, ruled that police without warrants or any suspicion of criminal activity may board buses and ask passengers to consent to searches for drugs.
- In Barnes vs. Glen Theatre, the court allowed states and local governments to ban totally nude dancing from bars and adults-only businesses. The 5-4 decision said such bans do not violate freedom of expression.
- In McCleskey vs. Georgia, the court ruled, 6-3, curtailed the rights of state prison inmates to file appeals in federal courts. The decision generally limits each inmate to one federal court appeal.