Month: June 2021
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SCOTUS Opinion: Court Narrowly Declines To Lift Nationwide Moratorium On Evictions—For Now
In the early days of the pandemic, Congress enacted a temporary hold on evictions nationwide that expired in July of 2020. On September 4, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an order creating another nationwide moratorium on most evictions, purportedly under authority of the Public Health Service Act. A variety of realtors challenged the order, and ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Court Denies Bond Hearings To Previously-Removed Undocumented Immigrants
Normally under 8 U.S.C. sec. 1226, an immigrant may apply for release on bond or parole pending a decision on whether they are to be removed from the country, with detention becoming mandatory once there is a final decision to remove. If an immigrant is removed, then re-enters the country illegally, the prior order to remove is reinstated, that decision ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Court Narrows Application Of Assignor Estoppel In Patent Cases
The doctrine of assignor estoppel precludes the assignor of a patent from later challenging the validity of that patent, under the premise that doing so is not fair dealing. In Minerva Surgical, Inc. v. Hologic, Inc., the developer of a patent treating abnormal uterine bleeding through a moisture-permeable applicator head gave the patent to his company, Hologic, then left and ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Natural Gas Act Permits Private Entities To Condemn State Property
In 1947, Congress amended the Natural Gas Act to permit the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue certificates to natural gas companies enabling those companies to exercise federal eminent domain power in order to obtain the land needed to build their pipelines based on “public convenience and necessity.” In PennEast Pipeline Co, LLC v. New Jersey, PennEast received a certificate ... Read More
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Court Requests Additional Examination Of Evidence In Excessive Force Case
The case of Lombardo v. City of St. Louis involved a detainee who died after police officers sought to restrain him after an apparent suicide attempt. After the detainee resisted, he was handcuffed and put in leg irons, and then placed prone on the floor, face down, with four officers applying pressure to hold him down. After 15 minutes of ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: No Exhaustion Requirement To Contest A Fifth Amendment Taking
In Pakdel v. City and County of San Francisco, a married couple who owned part of a multiunit residential building sued when the City of San Francisco required that they offer a lifetime lease to their tenant as part of allowing them to convert the building into a condominium, arguing that the lifetime lease requirement was an unconstitutional regulatory taking ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Mere Violation Of A Statutory Right Not Inherently Sufficient To Provide Standing In Class Action
Over 8,000 individuals sued as a class under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, alleging that TransUnion falsely inserted alerts on their credit histories because they happened to have the same first and last name as serious criminals monitored by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and that TransUnion had formatting errors in its reports. At trial, the ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Court Protects Small Refinery Exemptions To Renewable Fuel Program
As part of a renewable fuel program enacted by Congress under the Clean Air Act, the law allowed small refineries to be exempt from the Program’s requirements until 2011, then permitted the Environmental Protection Agency to extend that exemption for at least two more years if not doing so would cause “disproportionate economic hardship,” and further allowed any small refinery ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Alaska Native Corporations Eligible For Funds From CARES Act
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act allocated $8 billion to “Tribal governments” to pay for coronavirus expenditures. In Yellen v. Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, the question was whether Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) were eligible to receive any of those funds. The term “Tribal government” was defined as the “recognized governing body of an Indian tribe” as ... Read More
TAGGED: CARES Act, Alaska Native Corporations, Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Yellen v. Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, recognized governing body of an Indian tribe, Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, plain meaning
SCOTUS Opinion: Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Structure Deemed Unconstitutional
The Federal Housing Finance Agency was created under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act to have certain conservatorship powers to address the aftereffects of the 2008 housing bubble bursting. The Agency was under the Executive Branch, but the Act only allowed the President to remove the Agency’s Director “for cause.” Soon after it was created, the Agency entered into a ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Law Allowing Labor Unions Access To Private Land Deemed An Unconstitutional Taking
California enacted a regulation allowing labor organizations a limited duration right to access private farms to solicit support from farm workers thereon. Two such farmers filed suit seeking an injunction, arguing that the regulation was an unconstitutional per se physical taking without compensation. The district court and Ninth Circuit denied relief on the basis that the regulation did not allow ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Pursuit Of A Fleeing Misdemeanor Suspect Does Not Automatically Permit Warrantless Entry Into Home
The Fourth Amendment permits police officers to enter a home when “the exigencies of the situation” create a compelling law enforcement need. The question in Lange v. California was whether pursuit of a fleeing misdemeanor suspect categorically qualified as an exigent circumstance. In this case, the suspect was driving while listening to loud music and honking his horn. When an ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Cheerleader Wins First Amendment Case Involving Off-Campus Speech
When a high school student failed to make the varsity squad, she posted her frustrations on Snapchat using vulgar language. When the school learned of the posts, the student was suspended from the junior varsity squad in punishment. The student sued, arguing that her punishment violated her First Amendment rights under Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Court Fine-Tunes Review Standard For Securities Class Actions
In Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. v. Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, shareholders alleged securities fraud by Goldman Sachs and sought a class action certification. The shareholders invoked a presumption under Basic Inc. v. Levinson, 485 U.S. 224 (1988), that investors are presumed to rely on the market price of a company’s security, which is presumed to reflect all of the company’s ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Appointments Clause Requires Administrative Patent Judge Decisions To Be Reviewable
The Appointments Clause of the Constitution requires principal officers of the Executive Branch be nominated by the President and approved by the Senate. In United States v. Arthrex, Inc., the issue was whether Administrative Patent Judges (APJs), who issue decisions on the validity of patents on behalf of the Executive Branch, as appointed by the Secretary of Commerce, were constitutional ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: NCAA Violated Anti-Trust Laws By Capping Educational Benefits To Student Athletes
Under the NCAA’s rules, student athletes are restricted from receiving fair compensation for their prowess on the field or court, while the lucrative broadcasting deals mean big money for the NCAA itself. The students challenged those rules under the Sherman Act as violative of anti-trust law. The district court found that the NCAA enjoyed monopsony power over the collegiate sports ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: First Amendment Trumps Same-Sex Discrimination In Foster Care
The city of Philadelphia entered into contracts with various agencies to provide foster care services, including Catholic Social Services (CSS). While other foster care services would refer children to same-sex or unmarried couples, CSS would not because of its religious mission. The city decided that CSS’s position violated the non-discrimination provision in its contract and stopped referring children to them ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Court Rejects Child Slavery Claims Under Alien Tort Statute
Six individuals from Mali alleged that they were trafficked as child slaves to the Ivory Coast to work on cocoa farms, and sued Nestle USA and other U.S.-based companies who bought cocoa from those farms, accusing those companies of aiding and abetting their enslavement. The individuals brought their claims under the Alien Tort Statute, which allows courts to exercise common-law ... Read More
TAGGED: Alien Tort Statute, extraterritorial, Nestle USA, Inc. v. Doe
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SCOTUS Opinion: Justices Rejects Latest Challenge To Obamacare Under Lack Of Standing
Originally, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act required people to obtain minimum essential healthcare coverage, and instituted a monetary penalty for failure to do so. In a prior challenge to the Act, the Court ruled that the penalty was constitutional as a form of tax. Congress subsequently reduced the penalty to $0. Several states and two individuals sued again, ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Court Raises The Bar On Defendants Seeking Relief From Felon-In-Possession Of Firearms Sentences
To be convicted of being a felon-in-possession of a firearm, the government must prove that the defendant knew he possessed a firearm and knew he was a felon at that time. The case of Greer v. United States involved two different situations, one where a defendant failed to request a jury instruction requiring the jury to find that he knew ... Read More
TAGGED: Felon-In-Possession, firearm, Greer v. United States
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SCOTUS Opinion: Court Limits Sentencing Reductions Under Fair Sentencing Act To Mandatory Minimums
In 1986, Congress passed laws that punished possession of crack more severely than possession of cocaine, providing mandatory minimum sentences for smaller quantities of crack, but also allowing sentencing without a mandatory minimum as an alternative for those convicted of an unspecified amount of a drug. Tarahrick Terry was convicted of possessing an unspecified amount of crack under the alternative ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Reckless Action Does Not Qualify As “Violent Felony” Under Armed Career Criminal Act
The Armed Career Criminal Act permits a longer jail sentence for those found guilty three or more times of a prior “violent felony,” which is defined as a crime that involves “the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another.” The Court had previously decided that crimes of negligence lacked the necessary mens rea ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Temporary Protected Status Does Not Make Undocumented Immigrant Eligible For Green Card
After an immigrant from El Salvador illegally entered the United States in 1997, he was given Temporary Protected Status (TPS) by the government, which allowed him to remain the country while his home country was considered too dangerous to return to, and “shall be considered as being in, and maintaining, lawful status as a nonimmigrant.” Over a decade later, the ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Court Narrows Scope of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 imposes criminal liability on anyone who “intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access.” 18 U.S.C. sec. 1030(a)(2). The Act defines “exceeds authorized access” as meaning that a person accesses a computer with authorization, but uses that access to obtain or alter information that the person was not authorized to ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Tribal Officers Have Authority Over Non-Indians On Public Roads Crossing Reservation Land
A police officer for the Crow Tribe approached a driver who had stopped on a portion of a public highway within the Crow Reservation. The officer observed the driver appeared not to be native and had watery, bloodshot eyes, and guns on the front seat. Without asking for identification that would resolve the driver’s status as a native, the officer ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Immigrant’s Testimony Not Entitled To Presumption Of Credibility In Removal Case
The case of Garland v. Ming Dai involved two consolidated appeals where in each an immigrant noncitizen was requesting that he not be removed to his respective country of origin. In each case, the immigrant gave testimony in support of their cause to stay in the United States, and in each case the immigration judge and the Bureau of Immigration ... Read More