Tag Archives: Supreme Court
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The Diversity of the Supreme Court
At various points in the history of the United States, Presidential candidates and Presidents have made statements about the judicial nomination of the next Supreme Court Justice, indicating that issues of ethnicity and gender may provide the deciding factor in a selection process. Several Presidents have appointed individuals to add characteristics of diversity, as well as legal brilliance and judicial temperament. However, considerations of ... Read More
TAGGED: Supreme Court, Judicial Diversity, Diversity
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Now is the Time to Prepare for OSHA’s Enforcement of the Emergency Temporary Standard on COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing
On January 7, 2022, the Supreme Court heard argument on requests to stay enforcement of OSHA’s Vaccination, Testing and Face Coverings Standard, a workplace safety standard adopted to deter the spread of COVID-19. OSHA previously announced that enforcement of the non-testing requirements would begin as soon as January 10, 2022, with enforcement of the testing requirements delayed until February 9, 2022. Unless ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Scope Of Duty By BLM Protest Organizer To Be Determined By State Courts
During a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Louisiana protesting a recent police shooting, one of the officers was struck in the face by a chunk of rock causing serious injuries. No one could identify who threw the rock, so in Mckesson v. Doe, the officer sued the organizer of the protest on the theory that the demonstration was negligently staged ... Read More
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Court Applies Five-Year Limitations Period to SEC Disgorgement Actions
In Kokesh v. Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC sought to force Kokesh to disgorge millions he had misappropriated from various businesses from 1995 to 2009. While the Supreme Court had long held that a five-year limitations period applied to any SEC “action, suit or proceeding for the enforcement of any civil fine, penalty, or forfeiture,” the district court held ... Read More
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Supreme Court Limits Government’s Power to Seize Personal Property
The Comprehensive Forfeiture Act mandates forfeiture of “any property constituting, or derived from, any proceeds the person obtained, directly or indirectly, as the result of” certain drug crimes. After brothers Tony and Terry Honeycutt were indicted for such drug crimes for selling a particular chemical through a hardware store Tony owned, Tony pled guilty and agreed to forfeit the bulk ... Read More
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An ERISA Church Pension Plan Need Not Be Established by a Church
Originally, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act exempted “church plans” from a variety of rules designed to ensure solvency, and defined those plans as having been “established and maintained . . . for its employees . . . by a church.” Later, Congress amended this exception to include “a plan maintained by an organization . . . the principal purpose ... Read More
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Court Affirms Virginia Court’s Application Of Juvenile Punishment Standards
In Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48 (2010), the Court held that juvenile defendants convicted of nonhomicide offenses could not be sentenced to life without parole. Virginia had already abolished parole and instead replaced it with a “geriatric release” program which allowed older inmates to receive conditional release. In Virginia v. LeBlanc, LeBlanc was sentenced to life in prison for ... Read More
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Patent Holders May Not Use Federal Law To Issue Injunctions Against Applicants For Biosimilar Products
The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 provides an abbreviated process for the FDA to approve drugs that are biosimilar to already licensed biological products. The Act, in part, requires an applicant for a biosimilar product to provide its application and manufacturing information to the patent holder within 20 days of the date the FDA notifies the applicant ... Read More
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Court Again Limits Ability To Appeal Denial Of Class Certification
Consumers who purchased Xbox 360s sued Microsoft both individually and as a class. The district court struck the class allegations, refusing to certify the class. The Ninth Circuit refused to hear the appeal of that ruling under Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(f), which allows such interlocutory appeals only by permission of the court of appeals. Instead of pursuing their individual ... Read More
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Court Again Limits Forum-Shopping In Suits Against Nationwide Companies
In Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of Cal., San Francisco City, a number of users of the drug Plavix sued the maker in California for alleged health problems caused by the drug, despite the fact that hardly any of the users lived in that state, and Bristol-Myers being incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in New York. None of the ... Read More
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Supreme Court: Posting To Facebook Is A First Amendment Right
A North Carolina law made it a felony for a registered sex offender “to access a commercial social networking Web site where the sex offender knows that the site permits minor children to become members or to create or maintain personal Web pages.” When a sex offender posted on Facebook about getting a traffic ticket dismissed, he was convicted and ... Read More
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September 11 Detainees Denied A Bivens Action For Their Detention
In Ziglar v. Abbasi, the Court was asked to extend the implied cause of action theories under Bivens v. Six Unknown Fed. Narcotics Agents, 403 U.S. 388 (1971) to alleged constitutional violations six men claimed to have suffered during detention shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The Second Circuit permitted the claims to go forward against certain executive officials, ... Read More
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SCOTUS: Disparaging Trademarks Have First Amendment Protection
The Lanham Act has a provision prohibiting the registration of trademarks that “disparage . . . or bring . . . into contemp[t] or disrepute” and “persons, living or dead.” Simon Tam, lead singer of the Japanese rock band “The Slants” sued when the band’s name was denied registration. The Federal Circuit held that the disparagement clause was facially unconstitutional ... Read More
U.S. Supreme Court: Same-Sex Marriage Is a Right
[caption id="attachment_315" align="alignright" width="150"] Photo Credit: US Rep. Mark Pocan Twitter[/caption] Coincidentally timed on the anniversary of the decisions in Lawrence v. Texas and U.S. v. Windsor, two prior gay-rights cases, Justice Kennedy announced the majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the five-person majority held that the Fourteenth Amendment requires all ... Read More
TAGGED: Supreme Court, gay marriage, marriage equality
SCOTUS: 2nd mortgages on ‘underwater’ homes cannot be voided in Chapter 7 bankruptcy
In Bank of America v. Caulkett, the Court declined to allow a Chapter 7 bankruptcy debtor to “strip down” a mortgage lien that is junior to liens that claim all of the equity in a home, thus allowing those “underwater” liens to survive a discharge. Caulkett owned a house where the senior mortgage lien was greater than his ... Read More