On Tuesday, February 19, the Court heard oral arguments in Return Mail, Inc. v. USPS. The issue in the case is whether, under the America Invents Act (AIA), the government is a “person” who can petition the United States Patent and Trademark Office to review patent validity. Return Mail, the petitioner, owns a patent involving … Continue reading Tuesday Oral Argument Report
The Court heard oral arguments in two cases on Wednesday, January 16, 2019. First up was Knick v. Township of Scott, Pennsylvania, in which the Court is being asked to decide two questions: (1) whether to uphold the ripeness doctrine of Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank (a … Continue reading Oral Argument Analysis for January 16, 2019—Ripeness, Takings, & Alcohol Regulation
On January 15, the Court heard oral arguments for two cases: Home Depot v Jackson and Azar v. Allina Health Services. Justice Ginsburg is recovering from lung cancer surgery she underwent last month and was not in attendance. In Home Depot, Citibank sued George Jackson in North Carolina state court for debt collection. Jackson then … Continue reading Oral Argument Analysis for January 15—Defendant Removal & Rule-Making Authority
On Monday, January 15th, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases involving statutory interpretation. Thacker v. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) raises the question of whether the TVA is immune from tort liability as a government entity. Gary Thacker and a friend were fishing on the Tennessee River. At the same time, the TVA … Continue reading January 14 Oral Arguments: Tort Immunity and Copyright Litigation Costs
The Supreme Court delved into the complicated history of the relationships between the federal government and Native American tribes on Tuesday, January 8, in Herrera v. Wyoming. In January 2014, Clayvin Herrera, a member of the Crow Tribe in Montana and a tribe game warden, went hunting to find food to feed his family. He, … Continue reading Oral Arguments: Native American Tribal Rights and Copyright Requirements
The Supreme Court began the new year with oral arguments on Monday January 7, 2019. Justice Ginsburg did not join the bench, however, following surgery for cancerous nodules on her lung — the first time she has ever missed oral argument despite a series of health issues over the years. There has been much reporting … Continue reading Oral Argument: Preemption and Mortgage Foreclosures
As many observers of the legal drama surrounding President Trump have noted, under current Supreme Court precedent, a state can prosecute someone for a crime after the federal government has already done so — or vice versa. Recently, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the case of Gamble v. United States, which raises the … Continue reading Oral Argument: Double Jeopardy and Separate Sovereigns
To obtain Social Security disability benefits, an applicant must first establish that he has a disability. But he can be denied benefits if the Social Security Administration determines that there is work that he can do despite the disability. (See here for a more detailed explanation.) In Biestek v. Berryhill, argued on December 4, the … Continue reading Oral Argument: Disability Benefits and Patents
On December, the Court heard argument in Dawson v. Steager, which implicates a nearly-200-year-old case: McCulloch v. Maryland, as tax professor Daniel Hemel explains at SCOTUSblog.. In McCulloch, the Court, led by Chief Justice John Marshall, held that the state of Maryland could not tax the Bank of United States, at least as long as … Continue reading Oral Argument: State Tax of Federal Pensions & Securities Fraud
What happens if police officers arrest someone because the officers don’t like the arrestee’s speech — but the officers also have probable cause. Can the arrestee sue for retaliatory arrest in violation of the First Amendment? This was the question in Nieves v. Bartlett, argued on November 26. The case began when two Alaska state … Continue reading Oral Argument: The First Amendment, Retaliatory Arrest, and Probable Cause