SCOTUScast

On May 23, 2022 the Court decided Morgan vs. Sundance. Joining today to discuss the 9-0 decision is Stephen J. Ware, the Frank Edwards Tyler Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Kansas Law School.

On May 2nd, 2022 the Court decided Shurtleff vs. City of Boston. Joining SCOTUScast once more, this time for post-decision analysis, is Professor Scott Gaylord of Elon University School of Law.

On May 16, 2022 the Court decided Federal Election Commission vs. Ted Cruz for Senate. Listeners may remember our guest today, Professor Bradley A. Smith, the Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Professor of Law at Capital University Law School, who joined earlier in the term for the post-argument segment. Today, Professor Smith, a former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission (2004), joins to provide expert analysis on this decision.

Holding: Section 304 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 — which limits the amount of post-election contributions that may be used to repay a candidate who lends money to his own campaign — unconstitutionally burdens core political speech.
Judgment: Affirmed, 6-3, in an opinion by Chief Justice Roberts on May 16, 2022. Justice Kagan filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Breyer and Sotomayor joined.

On March 31, the Court decided Badgerow v. Walters, a case which concerned judicial supervision of arbitration. Joining today to discuss the decision and its implications is Jennifer Dickey, Associate Chief Counsel at the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center.

Holding: Federal jurisdiction in a petition to compel arbitration under Section 4 of the Federal Arbitration Act is determined by “looking through” the petition to the jurisdictional basis of the “underlying substantive controversy,” Vaden v. Discover Bank, but that approach does not apply to petitions to confirm or vacate arbitral awards under Sections 9 and 10 of the FAA.
Judgment: Reversed and remanded, 8-1, in an opinion by Justice Kagan on March 31, 2022. Justice Breyer filed a dissenting opinion.

The issue before the Court in West Virginia v. EPA is whether, when designing rules under Section 111, EPA is limited to identifying “systems of emission reduction” that can be applied to and at the level of an individually regulated facility, or whether there are no limits to EPA’s authority other than the textual commands to consider cost, nonair quality health and environmental impacts, and energy requirements. Federal respondents argue the case is moot and should be dismissed as improvidently granted.

Featuring:
Speaker: Justin Schwab, Founder, CGCN Law; former Deputy General Counsel, EPA.
Moderator: Garrett Kral, Associate Member of the Environmental Law & Property Rights Practice Group’s Executive Committee; former Special Advisor for Oversight, EPA.

On February 23rd, the Court heard arguments in Arizona vs. City and County of San Francisco, California, a case which concerned whether states with interests should be permitted to intervene to defend a rule when the United States ceases to defend. Joining to discuss arguments in the case is Hon. Elizabeth Murrill, Solicitor General in the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office.

On November 10th, the Court heard arguments in City of Austin, Texas v. Reagan National Advertising, a case which concerned whether the Austin city code’s distinction between on-premise signs, which may be digitized, and off-premise signs, which may not, is a facially unconstitutional content-based regulation under Reed v. Town of Gilbert. We are joined by Trevor Burrus, research fellow at the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, for this installment.

On Mar 3, 2022, the Court decided United States v. Zubaydah, a case which concerned whether the 9th circuit erred when it rejected the United States’ assertion of the state secrets privilege based on the court’s own assessment of potential harms to national security, and required discovery to proceed further under 28 U.S.C 1782(a) against former CIA contractors on matters concerning alleged clandestine CIA activities. In a 7-2 opinion authored by Justice Breyer, the Court held that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit’s judgment that the district court erred in dismissing Zubaydah’s discovery request on the basis of the state secrets privilege is reversed, and the case is remanded with instructions to dismiss Zubaydah’s current discovery application.

Joining us today to discuss decision this is Kate Comerford Todd, managing partner at Ellis George Cipollone in Washington, DC. Ms. Todd formerly served as Deputy Counsel to the Office of the President, Chief Counsel for the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, and has held teaching positions at both George Washington University Law School and Cornell. Ms. Todd has also clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas and Judge J. Michael Luttig of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and is a graduate of Harvard Law School.

On March 7, 2022 the Supreme Court decided Wooden v. United States, holding that William Dale Wooden’s ten burglary offenses arising from a single criminal episode did not occur on different “occasions” and thus count as only one prior conviction under the Armed Career Criminal Act. The Court Reversed and remanded, 9-0, in an opinion by Justice Kagan on March 7, 2022. Justice Kagan delivered the opinion of the court, in which Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kavanaugh joined, and in which Justices Thomas, Alito, and Barrett joined as to all but Part II-B. Sotomayor filed a concurring opinion. Kavanaugh filed a concurring opinion. Barrett filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, in which Thomas joined. Justice Gorsuch filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which Sotomayor joined as to Part II, III, and IV.

Joining today to discuss this decision is Vikrant P. Reddy, Senior Research Fellow at the Charles Koch Institute.

On February 24, 2022 the Supreme Court decided Unicolors, Inc v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz, LP. Joining today to discuss this decision is Zvi Rosen, Assistant Professor at SIU Law, former Visiting Scholar and Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University School of Law.