Publications
Greetings, Court fans! The robed returned to action with this week with decisions in three cases, North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners v. Federal Trade Commission (13-534), on whether state licensing boards enjoy immunity from antitrust laws when they’re comprised of market participants; Kansas v. Nebraska (126, Orig.), on the relative rights of Kansas and […]
Greetings, Court fans! It’s been a great week for admin-law junkies; maybe not so much for the D.C. Circuit, which suffered two unanimous reversals in Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Ass’n (13-1041) and Dep’t of Transportation v. Ass’n of American Railroads (13-1080). Today we bring you summaries of these two decisions and the most recent cert […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re bringing you up to speed with summaries of the Court’s decisions in NC Board of Dental Examiners v. FTX (13-534), regarding the scope of state action immunity from federal antitrust law; Direct Marketing Ass’n v. Brohl (13-1032), on whether the Tax Injunction Act bars a federal court from enjoining a state […]
Greetings, Court Fans! The Court began its March sitting this week (just in time for April), and issued decisions and two new cert grants. In this Update, we’ll discuss Omnicare, Inc. v. Laborers Industry Pension Fund (13-435), on issuer liability for opinions in securities registration statements, and B&B Hardware v. Hargis Industries (13-352), on the […]
Greetings, Court Fans! We’re back with summaries of the two remaining decisions from last week, Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v. Alabama (13-895), on racial gerrymandering in Alabama, and Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc. (12-1226), articulating the standard for proving an individual discriminatory treatment claim under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. We’ll also cover yesterday’s orders, […]
Greetings, Court fans! First, congratulations to my co-author Tadhg on the birth of his child last week! Second, I want to thank both David Roth and Ivana Greco for their contributions to this Update, which is a lengthy one. We will cover the Court’s recent decisions in: Rodriguez v. United States (13-9972), holding that, absent […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back with the two decisions from last week and one issued yesterday: Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar (13-1499), upholding a prohibition on the personal solicitation of campaign donations by judicial candidates; Mach Mining, LLC v. EEOC (13-1019), concluding that the EEOC’s mandatory pre-suit conciliation efforts are subject to some judicial review; and […]
Greetings, Court fans! As we approach June, the Court is attempting to clear out its docket, issuing six decisions Monday. We’ll cover four short ones—all unanimous—here: Harris v. Viegelahn (14-400), holding that a debtor who converts from Chapter 13 to Chapter 7 is entitled to the return of any undistributed post-petition wages; Tibble v. Edison […]
Greetings, Court Fans! We’re back with the two remaining decisions from Monday, Comptroller v. Wynne (13-485) and San Francisco v. Sheehan (13-1412), two split decisions featuring strange bedfellows. The Justices’ philosophical differences were aired in Comptroller of the Treasury of Maryland v. Wynne (13-485), where a state’s income tax laws bumped up against the so-called […]
Greetings, Court fans! This past week the Court released important decisions in the areas of bankruptcy law (Wellness International Network, Ltd v. Shariff (13-935), patent law (Commil USA, LLC v. Cisco Systems, Inc. (13-896), and the False Claims Act (Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel Carter (12-1497). Let’s get right […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court handed down four opinions and a summary reversal to kick off the busiest month of the term. This update will cover Elonis v. United States (13-983), the much anticipated “Facebook threats” case, along with Taylor v. Barkes (14-939), a summary reversal of a lower court misapplication of the qualified immunity […]
Greetings, Court Fans! The Court issued only one decision this week, but it was a biggie: Zivotovsky v. Kerry (13-628), aka the “Jerusalem passport case,” which will surely find its way into the separation-of-powers chapter of Con Law casebooks in short order. In addition to Zivotovsky, this update will cover Mellouli v. Lynch (13-1034), on […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court took care of some additional throat-clearing on Monday, handing down three decisions: Kerry v. Din (13-1402), holding that no additional process was due a U.S. citizen whose husband’s visa application was denied; Mata v. Lynch (14-185), holding that circuit courts have jurisdiction to review decisions of the Board of Immigration […]
Greetings, Court Fans!The trickle has officially become a flood. On Thursday, the Court released six new decisions, on top of the three from Monday. That leaves eleven more as we make our way down the home stretch. In this Update, we’ll cover the pair of First Amendment cases handed down Thursday, Reed v. Town of […]
Greetings, Court Fans! We’re back with Part II of our last-Thursday round-up, just in time for another decision dump from One First Street. This morning, the Court handed down decisions in Los Angeles v. Patel (13-1175), Kimble v. Marvel Enterprises (13-720), Horne v. Dep’t of Agriculture (14-275), and Kingsley v. Hendrickson (14-6368). We’ll get summaries […]
Greetings, Court Fans! The Supreme Court once again came to the rescue of Obamacare—or as Justice Scalia now calls it, in light of the Court’s second intervention, “SCOTUScare”. This Update will bring you analysis of this morning’s decision in King v. Burwell (14-114), holding 6-3 that, notwithstanding language in the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) suggesting […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back with yesterday’s orders, along with two of the five decisions handed down: Hall v. Florida (12-10882), rejecting Florida’s strict IQ cutoff for determining whether a person has an intellectual disability and is thus not subject to capital punishment under Atkinson v. Virginia (2002); and Plumhoff v. Rickard (12-1117), addressing whether […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back with the remainder of last week’s decisions: Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Community (12-515), embracing a broad view of tribal sovereign immunity; Wood v. Moss (13-115), finding that secret service officers who moved protesters away from President Bush were entitled to qualified immunity; and Martinez v. Illinois (13-5967), underscoring the […]
Greetings, Court fans! It’s been a rough couple of days for the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. On Friday, its Chief Judge stepped down in the wake of a teapot-sized tempest over his sitting on an appeal after sending a laudatory email to one of the attorneys involved. On Monday, the Supreme Court handed down […]
Greetings, Court fans! We’re back to bring you last week’s decision in Bond v. United States (12-158), the case of the jilted wife-cum-accused chemical terrorist; and the news that the Court refused to issue a stay in National Organization for Marriage v. Geiger (13A1173), in which the district court struck down Oregon’s ban on same-sex […]
Greetings, Court fans! It is June and naturally, the clouds are not the only things raining down on us; the decisions are beginning to pour in as well. The Court handed down five this week. This Update will cover CTS Corp. v. Waldburger (13-339), on whether CERCLA preempts state statutes of repose as well as […]
Greetings, Court fans! Argentina is 1 and 0 at the World Cup thus far, but it’s now gone 0 for 2 at One First Street. Regular readers will recall that, in March, the Court affirmed a district court decision confirming a $187 million arbitration award against La Albiceleste in BG Group PLC v. Republic of […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court seems to be clearing out some of the “easy” opinions this week, in anticipation for the blockbusters to come. Today, we bring you summaries of two unanimous decisions, Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus (13-193), on standing in a case involving political speech, and Lane v. Franks (13-483), on whether […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court is starting to roll out the big decisions, including in Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, Inc. (13-317) yesterday on the viability of the fraud-on-the market theory in securities class actions. We’ll bring you our take on Halliburton soon, but in the meantime, let’s clear out two more cases […]
Greetings, Court fans! For those of you not currently glued to your TV set or other screen watching US v. Germany in the World Cup, here’s a special treat: a deep dive into ABC v. Aereo (13-461) by a guest writer who worked on the case below. Of course, if you are watching the game, […]
Greetings, Court fans! This Update will bring you Pom Wonderful LLC v. Coca-Cola Co. (12-761), on whether a competitor may bring a Lanham Act claim based on misleading advertising where the product’s packaging complies with FDA guidelines; Loughrin v. United States (13-316), finding that specific intent to defraud a bank is not always required to […]
Greetings once again, Court fans! We’re back with three biggies: Utility Air Regulatory Group v. Environmental Protection Agency (12-1146), where the Court grappled with the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions contributing to “global climate change”; Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, Inc. (13-317), upholding plaintiffs’ ability to invoke the “fraud on the […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court closed out the Term today with Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores (13-354), holding that closely-held corporations controlled by religious families cannot be required to provide contraception coverage for their employees, and Harris v. Quinn (11-681), holding that home-care aides paid with Medicaid funds are only partial public employees and cannot […]
Greetings, Court fans! You’ll forgive us for taking a few days to work through the last of the Court’s big end-of-Term decisions. This Update covers two of them: National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning (12-1281), limiting the President’s ability to make appointments during short recesses of the Senate; and Harris v. Quinn (11-681), exempting […]
Greetings, Court fans! The Court ended its Term in familiar fashion, with a blockbuster Obamacare ruling. In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (13-354) and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Burwell (13-356), the Court considered whether the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) excuses for-profit corporations that object on religious grounds from having to […]