FedSoc Forums

Before the Supreme Court this term is the question of whether all pre-viability bans on abortion are unconstitutional. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, the Court must address this question in light of its previous holdings in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Shortly after oral argument in December 2021, law professor Richard Re encouraged the Court to adopt a gradualist approach, making room for the possibility that the justices could uphold both Mississippi's prohibition on abortions before 15-weeks gestation and its prior precedents in Roe and Casey. Law professor Eric Claeys has written a forthcoming article for the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy in which he takes a deep dive into the abortion precedents, concluding that the Court must either reaffirm or overturn those prior rulings.
These two distinguished scholars join us to discuss the argument, the stakes, and more.
Featuring:
Prof. Eric Claeys, Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Prof. Richard Re, Joel B. Piassick Research Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
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This Zoom webinar is open to public registration at the link above.

Each month, a panel of constitutional experts convenes to discuss the Court’s upcoming docket sitting by sitting. Issues presented in the March 2022 sitting included arbitration and the Federal Arbitration Act, international law, states rights, civil procedure, and more.

• Morgan v. Sundance, Inc. (March 21) – arbitration and contract law
• Berger v. North Carolina State Conference of NAACP (March 21) – states rights, intervention, and civil procedure
• Golan v. Saada (March 22) – international law; the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction
• ZF Automotive US, Inc. v. Luxshare, Ltd. consolidated for argument with Alixpartners, LLP v. Fund for Protection of Investors’ Rights (March 23) – rules of evidence before international arbitral tribunals; what constitutes a “foreign or international tribunal” under 28 U.S.C. § 1782(a)
• Ledure v. Union Pacific Railroad Co. (March 28) – The Locomotive Inspection Act
• Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon (March 28) – the definition of “transportation workers” under the Federal Arbitration Act
• Torres v. Texas Dept. of Public Safety (March 29) – state sovereign immunity, the constitutional war power, and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act of 1994
• Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana (March 30) – enforcement of bilateral agreements under the Federal Arbitration Act

Featuring:

• Theane Evangelis, Partner, Gibson Dunn
• Jonathan Urick, Association Chief Counsel, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Litigation Center
• John Elwood, Partner, Arnold Porter
• Evan Caminker, Dean Emeritus and Branch Rickey Collegiate Professor of Law at Michigan Law
• Moderator: Jess Bravin, Supreme Court Correspondent, The Wall Street Journal

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This conference has already happened. Watch the archived video above or at www.youtube.com/c/TheFederalis...

As federalism becomes an increasingly important principle of our constitutional structure, Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has published a timely book titled, Who Decides? States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation (Oxford, 2021). Judge Sutton, a former law clerk to Justices Lewis Powell and Antonin Scalia, argues that constitutional law in America--encompassing the systems of all 51 governments--should have a role in assessing the right balance of power among all branches of our state and federal governments.

A distinguished group of legal thinkers and practitioners joins us to discuss this book.

Featuring:

--Hon. William H. Pryor, Jr., Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
--Hon. Jeffrey S. Sutton, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
--Moderator: Prof. Jennifer L. Mascott, Assistant Professor of Law and Co-Executive Director, The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State, Antonin Scalia Law School

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This Zoom event is open to public registration at the link above.

Before the Supreme Court this term is the question of whether all pre-viability bans on abortion are unconstitutional. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, the Court must address this question in light of its previous holdings in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Shortly after oral argument in December 2021, law professor Richard Re encouraged the Court to adopt a gradualist approach, making room for the possibility that the justices could uphold both Mississippi's prohibition on abortions before 15-weeks gestation and its prior precedents in Roe and Casey. Law professor Eric Claeys has written a forthcoming article for the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy in which he takes a deep dive into the abortion precedents, concluding that the Court must either reaffirm or overturn those prior rulings.

These two distinguished scholars join us to discuss the argument, the stakes, and more.

Featuring:
--Prof. Eric Claeys, Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
--Prof. Richard Re, Joel B. Piassick Research Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law

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This Zoom webinar is open to public registration at the link above.

On March 3, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Cameron v. EMW Women's Surgical Center. Writing for the 8-1 majority, Justice Samuel Alito explained how the the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit erred in denying the Kentucky attorney general’s motion to intervene on the commonwealth’s behalf in litigation concerning Kentucky House Bill 454, related to the rights of the unborn. Justice Thomas filed a concurring opinion. Justice Kagan filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which Justice Breyer joined. Justice Sotomayor filed a dissenting opinion.

Our expert will cover the case, the ruling, and its implications.

Featuring:

--Philip D. Williamson, Partner, Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP

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This Zoom event is open to public registration at the link above.

Join us for a webinar featuring Vikrant Reddy to discuss the Supreme Court decision in Wooden v. United States.
Speaker:

Vikrant Reddy, Senior Research Fellow, Charles Koch Institute

In October 2021, LTL Management LLC (LTL), a newly created and separate subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) that was established to hold and manage claims in the cosmetic talc litigation, filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. J&J also entered into a funding agreement with LTL that assures that LTL will have the same, if not greater, ability to satisfy talc claims once the parties reach a plan of reorganization. J&J submits that the Chapter 11 restructuring is the only means by which LTL and its affiliates can reach a swift and equitable resolution for current and future claimants. Opposition argues the case does not serve a valid restructuring purpose, suggesting J&J filed it in bad faith. On February 25, the bankruptcy court in New Jersey sided with LTL and denied claimants’ motion to dismiss. The claimants have indicated they will appeal the ruling.

A divisional merger is a state-law transaction where a business entity divides itself into two new entities. It is similar in substance to other state-law transactions that result in the emergence of new legal entities. Controversy has arisen when—following the divisional merger—one of the new entities initiates Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, as LTL did.

Professor Tony Casey of the University of Chicago Law School will address the interplay of divisional mergers and Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the context of the J&J litigation and LTL bankruptcy. He will review the purpose of Chapter 11 in preserving economic and social value, explain how a divisional merger can further that purpose in the mass tort context, and discuss how existing law protects against the potential for abuse.

Featuring:

--Prof. Anthony Casey, Deputy Dean, Donald M. Ephraim Professor of Law and Economics, ---Faculty Director, The Center on Law and Finance, University of Chicago Law School

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This Zoom event is open to public registration at the link above.

On February 25, 2022, Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd., McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health, Inc., and Amerisourcebergen Corp. announced that they had agreed to finalize a reported $26 billion settlement to resolve approximately 3,000 lawsuits from state and local governments regarding the opioid abuse crisis. The private plaintiffs’ trial firms representing the counties and municipalities filed the first lawsuit in California in 2014. The proposed settlement allocates approximately $2.3 billion for the plaintiffs' attorneys’ fees and costs. The most controversial legal issue was whether the defendants’ marketing created a “public nuisance.”

The companies continue to face claims in Alabama, Washington, West Virginia and Oklahoma, where in November 2021 the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the state’s public nuisance statute did not extend to the manufacturing, marketing, and selling of prescription opioids.

On November 23, 2021, an Ohio federal jury found CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart pharmacies liable for recklessly distributing opioids in Lake and Trumbull counties in Ohio. Rite Aid and Giant Eagle settled in 2021. U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster is scheduled to decide damages this spring.

Please join us on Tuesday, March 8, 2022, at 2:00pm EST/11:00am PST, as John Shu, who has been following the national litigations, will hold a Zoom webinar to update us on the litigations in California, Oklahoma, and Ohio, and discuss their legal and strategic issues.

Featuring:
--John Shu, Professor, Attorney, and Legal Commentator

In Unborn Human Life and Fundamental Rights: Leading Constitutional Cases under Scrutiny (Peter Lang, 2019), editors William L. Saunders and Pilar Zambrano have collected a series of essays covering over 10 different nations and jurisdictions and addressing human rights and the role of judiciaries at home and abroad in protecting those rights. Concluding reflections are offered by legal philosopher John Finnis.
Professor Gerard Bradley will discuss his contribution to the volume, as well as the relevant and current issues both here and around the world.
Featuring:
Prof. Gerard V. Bradley, Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame Law School
Moderator: Prof. Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University
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This Zoom event is open to public registration.

Please join the Practice Groups for a timely webinar on how the upcoming Supreme Court nominee might shape law in the future. Prof. Dan Epps and Ethan Davis will consider the nominee's influence on criminal law, while Prof. William Marshall and Roger Severino will analyze possible effects on civil rights law.

Featuring:
--Prof. Dan Epps, Professor of Law, Washington University in St. Louis
--Ethan Davis, Partner, Special Matters and Government Investigations, King & Spalding
--Prof. William Marshall, Kenan Professor of Law, University of North Carolina
--Roger Severino, Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center
--Moderator: Dean Reuter, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, The Federalist Society