Publications
Greetings, Court Fans! We’re back with the nightcap of today’s doubleheader, consisting of summaries of Moody v. NetChoice (No. 22-277), an important First Amendment case that turned into an important case on facial constitutional challenges; City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson (No. 23-175), in which the Court concluded that many western cities’ “camping bans” […]
Greetings, Court Fans! Last fall, if you asked commentators what OT23 was going to be about, chances are they would have said “the administrative state.” But things took a bit of a turn when circumstances in the lower courts conspired to fill out the Court’s docket with high-profile (and practically unavoidable) cases on Trump, abortion, […]
Greetings, Court Fans! In Murthy v. Missouri (No. 23-411) and Moyle v. United States (No. 23-726), Justice Barrett cemented her new role as the leader of a Coalition of the Unwilling (to adjudicate on the merits), joined by Justices Sotomayor and Kagan (and sometimes Jackson) on the left and the Chief and Justice Kavanaugh on […]
Greetings, Court Fans! This morning, the Court issued the final three decisions of OT23: In Trump v. United States (No. 23-939), a 6-3 Court held that a former President enjoys absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority and has at least presumptive immunity for all official acts. That […]
In a recent precedential en banc opinion, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) overruled the existing framework for analyzing obviousness in design patents. See, LKQ Corporation, Keystone Automotive Industries, Inc. v. GM Global Technology Operations LLC, No. 2021-2348 (Fed. Cir., May 21, 2024). The CAFC reasoned that the current framework for evaluating […]
Greetings, Court Fans! Today, on what we now know is the penultimate day of the term, the Court issued three opinions, all of which are both big and split 6-3 on (mostly) ideological lines: In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (No. 22-451), decided along with Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce (No. 22-1219), the Court […]
August 1, 2024 (Update): The following client alert was published in Westlaw Today. To read the publication, click here. Our previous client alert on May 22, 2024, discussed the passage of Public Act No. 24-76, which was signed by Governor Lamont on May 11, 2024. This second advisory addresses the three other public acts that […]
On June 26, 2024, Partner David Hall and Associate Christopher Bailes authored the article titled, “DOJ’s Indictments of Congressional Members Signals Evolving Strategy to Fight Public Corruption” for the Legal Intelligencer. David and Christopher discuss the Department of Justice’s decision to charge two sitting members of Congress with violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act […]
Greetings, Court Fans! The Court issued four significant decisions this morning: Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P. (No. 23-124), holding (5-4, with an interesting “horseshoe” alignment) that the Bankruptcy Code does not authorize nonconsensual releases of claims against nondebtors, thereby scuttling a bankruptcy plan that would have released claims against the Sackler family in exchange for […]
Greetings, Court Fans! With fourteen cases left to decide as of yesterday (give or take, depending on which, if any, are consolidated), we were expecting quite a few opinion announcements this morning. Instead, we got just two: Murthy v. Missouri (No. 23-411), holding that plaintiffs—individual social-media users and the states of Louisiana and Missouri—lacked standing […]
Greetings, Court Fans! While we await the Court’s issuance of more decisions on Wednesday, we have four recaps of cases decided in the last week or so: Moore v. United States (No. 22-800), in which a 7-2 Court held that a one-time repatriation tax was not an unconstitutional “direct” tax. Diaz v. United States (No. […]
In what undoubtedly is welcome news to trustees of Connecticut irrevocable trusts, effective January 1, 2025, Connecticut will join the growing list of states that specifically authorize “decanting” the assets of an otherwise irrevocable trust into a new trust with improved terms. While most Connecticut practitioners believe that decanting has always been available under Connecticut […]
Greetings, Court Fans! This morning, the Court announced five decisions, all of which are heavily divided, at least as to the analysis: United States v. Rahimi (No. 22-915), an 8-1 decision written by the Chief Justice, holding that the Second Amendment allows the government to prohibit a person who has been found to pose a […]
Greetings, Court Fans! We’re now at the business end of the Supreme Court’s term, with 23 decisions (and the majority of the most-watched cases) to be decided likely by next Friday. The Court made some headway on that today, issuing four opinions: In Moore v. United States (No. 22-800), a 7-2 Court held that a […]
Greetings, Court Fans! Yesterday, the Court announced three opinions, including one that’s already making headlines: In FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (No. 23-235), a unanimous Court held that a group of emergency-room doctors and medical associations lacked standing to challenge the FDA’s expanded approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, thereby vacating a lower-court injunction […]
In a recent opinion, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that life-insurance proceeds from a policy owned by a closely held business on the life of one of its owners must be factored into the valuation of the business for estate tax purposes when the insured owner dies. This ruling has important implications for […]
On June 10, 2024, Law.com published Partner Paul Tuchmann‘s article titled, “Second Circuit Holds No Special Standard for Charging Campaign Contributions As Bribes”. In the article, Paul discusses the Second Circuit’s recent ruling in the bribery case against former New York Lieutenant Governor Brian Benjamin that there is no heightened quid bro quo standard in […]
On June 10, the Spring 2024 issue of the Franchise Law Journal, Volume 43 Number 2 was published, where Litigation Partner John Doroghazi is Editor-in-Chief. The Franchise Law Journal is published by the American Bar Association Forum of Franchising. In his editorial, John discusses attending the Annual Forum on Franchising and how the event builds relationships within the franchise bar and […]
Greetings, Court Fans! Yesterday, the Court issued three decisions that, while not likely to get a lot of media attention, were closely watched by lawyers in the insurance, bankruptcy, trusts and estates, and Indian law sectors: In Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum Co. (No. 22-1079), a unanimous Court held that an insurer with financial […]
Like individuals, trusts are subject to income tax by the federal government and a majority of states. If a trust is characterized as a “grantor” trust, then its income is reported by the grantor thereof, who is usually the trust creator, and taxed as if earned by the grantor individually. If the trust is characterized […]
Greetings, Court Fans! We’re back to summarize three more of the decisions the Court has issued in the last few weeks: Alexander v. South Carolina Conference of the NAACP (No. 22-807), A 6-3 decision holding that a three-judge District Court clearly erred in finding that race predominated in South Carolina’s redrawing of the boundaries for […]
Greetings, Court Fans! It’s the First Monday of June, meaning the Court’s about to step on the gas with respect to decisions. Despite the Court’s somewhat lethargic output to date, we’ve still managed to find ourselves buried beneath a pile of decisions. Here’s a quick run-down, beginning with the most recently decided: In Cantero v. […]
On May 24, 2024, Partner Kate Cassidy and Counsel Anjali Dala authored the article titled, “AI Litigation Spotlight: ‘NYT v. OpenAI’” for the New York Law Journal. Kate and Anjali discuss New York Times Co. v. Microsoft, No. 1:23-cv-11195 (S.D.N.Y), one of the strongest copyright case challenging generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to date. Kate and Anjali summarize […]
On May 15, 2024, the Bipartisan Senate AI Working Group composed of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD), Todd Young (R-IN), and Martin Heinrich (D-NM), published “Driving U.S. Innovation in Artificial Intelligence: A Roadmap for Artificial Intelligence Policy in the United States Senate” (the “Report”).[1] The 31-page document contains a […]
This client alert discusses the most recent changes to Connecticut cannabis laws brought about by the passage of Public Act No. 24-76 (the “Act”), which was signed by Governor Lamont on May 11, 2024.[1] These changes include the following: (1) establishing a new category of THC product, an “infused beverage” for regulation; (2) providing for […]
On April 19, 2024, the U.S. Department of Education (the “Department”) released its final amended regulations implementing Title IX. This client alert summarizes the substantially increased training requirements that all educational institutions will need to implement when the amended regulations take effect on August 1, 2024. We will continue to provide guidance as the deadline […]
Income tax reporting obligations do not cease at death. In fact, there may be multiple taxpayers required to file income tax returns after the death of an individual. For example, the decedent, the executor of the decedent’s estate and trustees of trusts created by the decedent each has income tax reporting requirements. The basics of […]
The following is an updated version of an advisory first issued on April 30. The original advisory addressed only the Department of Commerce Interim Final Rule. It has been updated to address the subsequent Department of State Proposed Rule. In accordance with the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), on April 19, 2024, […]
Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed two per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) chemicals — commonly referred to as “forever chemicals” — as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Listing these two PFAS, specifically perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), impacts whether and to what extent […]
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) has announced its intention to reclassify cannabis from a Schedule I to Schedule III drug, a move with quite significant potential consequences. This reclassification would profoundly alter the risk of use of cannabis, which, as a Schedule I drug, is currently deemed to be in the same category […]