Ex parte Bain
Is it still good law? What later courts have actually done to this case.
Status
More on how this was screened
The 4 confirmed treatments are listed below. United States v. Miller rejected Bain's rule against removing unnecessary allegations from an indictment, and United States v. Cotton overruled its view that an indictment defect removes jurisdiction. Cotton expressly preserved Bain's rule against substantive amendment without resubmission to the grand jury. Many later opinions merely report Miller's or Cotton's acts and add no treatment of their own.
814 later cases cite Ex parte Bain; 76 of those citations sat close to treatment language and were flagged for reading, and all of them have been read. Citations that did not sit near treatment language were not flagged and were not read one by one, so a court that weakened this case without using any of that language would not appear here.
Relying on Ex parte Bain?
This page shows what later courts did to it. Ask about your specific facts and see whether it still carries your argument, with citations you can check.
Treatments
Limited
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The Court confined Bain's indictment rule to an actual alteration and declined to extend it to withdrawing unsupported theories from the jury while leaving the indictment intact.
Salinger v. United States · Supreme Court of the United States · filed
In the case of Ex parte Bain, 121 U. S. 1, on which the accused relies, there was an actual amendment or alteration of the indictment to avoid an adverse ruling on demurrer, and the trial was on the amended charge without a resubmission to a grand jury. The principle on which the decision proceeded is not broader than the situation to which it was applied.
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Questioned
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The Ninth Circuit doubted Bain's continuing force against physically striking patently surplus indictment language, and upheld the deletion at issue.
United States v. Abascal · Ninth Circuit · filed
We doubt that Bain has continuing validity in forbidding the physical striking of material that is patently surplusage.
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Overruled in part
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The Court expressly rejected Bain's rule that dropping allegations unnecessary to an offense already charged unconstitutionally amends the indictment.
United States v. Miller · Supreme Court of the United States · filed
To the extent Bain stands for the proposition that it constitutes an unconstitutional amendment to drop from an indictment those allegations that are unnecessary to an offense that is clearly contained within it, that case has simply not survived. To avoid further confusion, we now explicitly reject that proposition.
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The Court expressly overruled Bain's holding that a defective indictment deprives the trial court of jurisdiction.
United States v. Cotton · Supreme Court of the United States · filed
Insofar as it held that a defective indictment deprives a court of jurisdiction, Bain is overruled.
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Does this case still carry your argument?
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