We have seen a dramatic increase in housing insecurity among our pro bono clients in recent years. Unfortunately, it’s part of an alarming nationwide trend. According to a recent report issued by the U.S. Department of...more
In 2024, federal courts issued a number of important decisions in False Claims Act (FCA) cases that are particularly noteworthy for the health care and life sciences industries. We focus here on decisions that further develop...more
Public-camping ordinances across Virginia and the United States dodged a constitutional bullet that would have prohibited criminal penalties for violations those laws if the defendant did not have adequate access to shelter. ...more
As lawyers, we work with words. We bend them, conjoin them, manipulate them, and often seek to redefine them. Working in certain legal fields, we often take for granted the common vernacular used in those fields. Terms such...more
On June 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson finding municipal ordinances prohibiting camping on public property to be a constitutional exercise of local government...more
In response to a class action suit by homeless people challenging several anti-camping ordinances in the city of Grant Pass, OR, the U.S. Supreme Court explored the contours of the Eighth Amendment (“8A”) of the U.S....more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued four decisions today: Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, No. 22-451; Relentless v. Department of Commerce, No. 22-1219: These cases, decided in a single opinion, address...more
On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States decided City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, No. 23-175, holding that the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause of the Eighth Amendment of the United States...more
In this special episode, Akin Supreme Court and appellate practice head Pratik Shah and partner Aileen McGrath look back at the tumultuous 2022 Supreme Court Term....more
On Friday, January 12, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari in five cases: Smith v. Spizzirri, No. 22-1218: This case involves the interpretation of Section 3 of the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”),...more
Summary - In Tyler v. Hennepin County, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that a county’s retention of the excess value of a home in a tax sale violated the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The decision, which...more
In Tyler v. Hennepin County, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court concluded that the State of Minnesota violated a property owner's constitutional rights by keeping the excess proceeds from a tax lien sale. Geraldine Tyler owned a...more
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
“The taxpayer must render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, but no more.” Tyler v. Hennepin County, No. 22-166, Slip Op. at 14 (May 25, 2023) - Less than a month after oral argument, the United States Supreme Court ruled...more
On Friday, January 13, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari in eight cases: U.S. ex rel. Schutte v. SuperValu Inc.; U.S. ex rel. Proctor v. Safeway, Inc., Nos. 21-1326, 22-111: These consolidated...more
New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen, No. 20-843: This case involves a constitutional challenge to a New York handgun-licensing law. New York makes it a crime to possess a firearm without a license. ...more
TODAY, THE SUPREME COURT GRANTED CERTIORARI IN ONE CASE: Jones v. Mississippi, No. 18-1259: Whether the Eighth Amendment requires the sentencing authority to make a finding that a juvenile is permanently incorrigible...more
Cities and towns have become increasingly aggressive in their efforts to avoid blight resulting from vacant and foreclosed properties and enforce the state and local sanitary codes. At what point does a valid code violation...more
Today, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in four cases: Ramos v. Louisiana, No. 18-5924: Whether the Fourteenth Amendment fully incorporates the Sixth Amendment guarantee of a unanimous verdict....more
Today, the Supreme Court issued three decisions: Jam v. International Finance Corporation, No. 17-1011: The International Finance Corporation is a U.S.-based international development bank of which 184 countries are...more
Today the Supreme Court granted certiorari in three cases: Frank v. Gaos, No. 17-961: Whether, or in what circumstances, a cy pres award of class action proceeds that provides no direct relief to class members supports...more
New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira, No. 17-340: (1) Whether a dispute over applicability of the Federal Arbitration Act’s (“FAA”) Section 1 exemption, which provides that the FAA does not apply “to contracts of employment of seamen,...more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued a decision in the following case today: Expressions Hair Design v. Schneiderman, No. 15-1391: Five businesses in New York, petitioners here, wanted to pass along the...more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued decisions in two cases on June 6, 2016: Simmons v. Himmelreich, No. 15-109: Respondent Walter Himmelreich, an inmate at a federal prison, brought two suits against prison...more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued decisions in four cases today: Campbell-Ewald v. Gomez, No. 14-857: Respondent Jose Gomez received Navy recruitment text messages without his consent. He filed a nationwide...more