Management-side attorneys and the businesses that they represent will be pleased with the Supreme Court’s holding in Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters....more
With four decisions yesterday, the Court has now cut its backlog down to the mid-teens. And with decisions likely today as well, the Court is well on its way to clearing the docket as the term ends....more
6/23/2023
/ Arizona v Navajo Nation ,
Breach of Trust ,
Criminal Convictions ,
Habeas Corpus ,
Native American Issues ,
Navajo Nation ,
Obstruction of Justice ,
Pugin v Garland ,
RICO ,
SCOTUS ,
Tribal Governments ,
Tribal Lands ,
Tribal Treaty Rights ,
Water ,
Water Rights ,
Yegiazaryan v Smagin
The question of whether a would-be trademark, “TRUMP TOO SMALL,” warrants a First Amendment exception to the Lanham Act’s prohibition on registering a living person’s name as a trademark without that person’s permission has...more
6/19/2023
/ CAFC ,
Certiorari ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Lanham Act ,
Public Figures ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
USPTO
It should come as no surprise to constitutionalists, practitioners under the Federal False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. §§3729–3733) (FCA), and auditors of the oral argument in the case that the Supreme Court has held that the...more
Emerging from the pattern of unanimity, or near unanimity, that has characterized most of the cases decided so far this term, the Supreme Court decided one of its most eagerly awaited and controversial cases. And the outcome...more
Continuing the issuance of opinions as to which the Justices are largely of one mind, the Court today handed down three decisions. Each gives important guidance to litigators on both sides of the ball. The first of these is a...more
6/1/2023
/ Drug Pricing ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Glacier Northwest v International Brotherhood of Teamsters ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
NLRA ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 11 ,
Securities Act of 1933 ,
Slack Technologies Inc v Pirani ,
Strike ,
Unions ,
US ex rel Tracy Schutte et al v SuperValu Inc et al
With essential unanimity, though with an array of concurrences in one of them, the Supreme Court ruled against government parties in three cases, two of them in favor of homeowners, and in property rights and environmental...more
5/26/2023
/ Administrative Remedies ,
Clean Water Act ,
Commercial Litigation ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Dupree v Younger ,
Eighth Amendment ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Exhaustion Doctrine ,
Fifth Amendment ,
FRCP 56 ,
Property Owners ,
Property Tax ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Takings Clause ,
Tax Sales ,
Tyler v Hennepin County Minnesota ,
Waters of the United States
In a per curiam opinion issued in Calcutt v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Court has reversed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and remanded to it an enforcement action that had been brought against...more
The Supreme Court issued no fewer than six opinions on Thursday, May 18, addressing questions including whether an internet platform might be held liable as an aider and abettor of terrorist activity, and whether Andy...more
5/23/2023
/ Amgen ,
Antiterrorism Act ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Fair Use ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Sanofi ,
SCOTUS ,
Transformative Use ,
Twitter
With the Justices largely in agreement across the board, the Court today issued five opinions. One of them provides a usefully definitive view of the limited nature of the so-called “dormant Commerce Clause.” Two of them are...more
On Wednesday, April 19, the Court decided three cases that are interesting and instructive in following how the Justices, both nominal liberals and conservatives, attempt to apply textual methodology in assessing...more
Once again, with a substantial backlog of cases—some of them potentially controversial—argued and pending decision, the Court continues to sail in relatively calm waters....more
While the substantial backlog of decisions has many observers waiting for a flood of rulings, the Supreme Court is moving at its own pace. Thus, the Court has issued a single opinion today, but especially for readers who are...more
The Supreme Court issued a single opinion yesterday. Wilkins v. United States concerns a property rights dispute between the federal government and two owners of land near the Bitterroot National Forest in rural Montana to...more
The Supreme Court decided two cases today, and though neither of them presents the sort of widely consequential matter that, say, the President’s student loan forgiveness plan that was argued this morning does, each has...more
The Court has broken the logjam of pending opinions, rendering three decisions today, one of which, dealing with the issue of when overtime pay is mandated under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), might have a broader...more
While many commentators were wondering when the Supreme Court would start issuing opinions, the backlog of argued cases now being substantial, today is their day. ...more
The October term of the Court began yesterday, with a sitting that marked the very active debut of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and predictions that this term will be even more controversial than last, although it is...more
Despite the Supreme Court’s recent 6-3 ruling in West Virginia v. EPA that regulatory agencies must have “clear congressional authorization” to make rules pertaining to “major questions” that are of “great political...more
The Court has now delivered its final two decisions of the term, one of them of great consequence to administrative law. With adjournment comes the retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer and the swearing-in of his successor,...more
With his retirement to begin on June 30 at noon, Justice Breyer leads a 5-4 split in Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety, with the Chief Justice and Justice Kavanaugh, along with Justices Sotomayor and Kagan, joining...more
Coming off the decisions in the landmark Dobbs and Bruen cases, the rest of the term might seem anticlimactic. Nevertheless, as the shelf is being cleared of the remaining cases, there are still rulings of significance to...more
The day after the Gallup organization reported that public confidence in the Supreme Court has reached new lows, the Court has added what, to many, will be more fuel to that fire. The long-awaited, hotly contested, and...more
New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen is the long-awaited New York gun licensing decision that has been hotly debated since its filing. Especially in light of recent school shootings, that debate is likely...more
I’m currently in the wilds of Alaska, learning about the training of sled dogs. Nevertheless, word of the Supreme Court’s five most recent decisions has traveled northward. While none of these decisions is earthshaking, they...more
6/23/2022
/ All Writs Act ,
Death Penalty ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Evidence ,
First Amendment ,
Free Exercise Clause ,
Habeas Corpus ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Secondary Payer Act ,
Public Schools ,
SCOTUS