Federal Judiciary

Petitions to watch | Conference of 03.18.11

By Christa Culver

This edition of ?Petitions to watch? features cases up for consideration at the Justices? March 18 conference.  These are petitions raising issues that Tom has determined to have a reasonable chance of being granted, although we post them here without consideration of whether they present appropriate vehicles in which to decide those issues.

Title: The Clearing House Ass’n, L.L.C. v. Bloomberg, L.P.
Docket: 10-543
Issue(s): (1) Whether the identity of a third party who transacts with a federal agency, and the highly confidential terms of such a transaction, constitutes information "obtained from" that party for purposes of Exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act, which authorizes a federal agency to withhold ?[1] trade secrets and commercial or financial information [2] obtained from a person [3] privileged or confidential?; and (2) whether information is "confidential" under FOIA Exemption 4 when its disclosure would impair the effectiveness of federal agency programs.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (2d Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition of the federal respondent
• Brief in opposition of Bloomberg, L.P. (forthcoming)
• Motion for leave to file out of time amicus brief of American Bankers Association
• Petitioner's reply

Title: Mylan Inc. v. Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd.
Docket: 10-770
Issue(s): Whether, contrary to this Court's decision in KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., the Federal Circuit has erred in applying a ?lead compound test? as the exclusive standard for determining whether a patent claim directed to a new chemical compound is ?obvious? and therefore invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a).

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (Federal Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioners' reply
• Amicus brief of Generic Pharmaceutical Association

Title: Kiyemba v. Obama
Docket: 10-775
Issue(s): Whether a judicial officer of the United States, having jurisdiction of the habeas corpus petition of an alien transported by the executive to, and held at, an offshore prison, has any judicial power to direct the prisoner's release.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (D.C. Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioners' reply

Title: Cao v. FEC
Docket: 10-776
Issue(s): (1) Whether the holding that contributions may be limited under lowered scrutiny because they "do[] not communicate the underlying basis for the support," "involve[] little direct restraint on [speech]," "involve speech by someone [else]," and "transformation...into political debate involves [another's] speech," Buckley v. Valeo (1976), permits the government to restrict expenditures for communications constituting a political party's own speech because the communications are coordinated with a candidate; and (2) in the alternative, whether party-coordinated expenditures constituting a party's own speech may constitutionally be treated as contributions if the only coordination is "on which time slot the advertisement should run for maximum effectiveness," FEC v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee (2001).

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (5th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioners' reply

Title: Rehberg v. Paulk
Docket: 10-788
Issue(s): Whether a government official who acts as a ?complaining witness? by presenting perjured testimony against an innocent citizen is entitled to absolute immunity from a Section 1983 claim for civil damages.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (11th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition of respondent James P. Paulk
• Amicus brief of the Government Accountability Project
• Petitioner's reply

Title: Barr v. United States
Docket: 10-794
Issue(s): When a court allocates the proceeds from a sale pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 7403, which allows district courts to order a sale of a delinquent taxpayer?s property to satisfy a federal tax lien, even if the property is co-owned with another individual who does not owe taxes, and provides that the proceeds of the sale should be allocated "according to the interests of the parties and of the United States," must the court take into account the additional value of the survivorship right of the spouse with the longer life expectancy and any other asymmetrical rights or must it instead allocate the proceeds equally to each party in every situation?

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (6th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioner's reply

Title: State Compensation Insurance Fund v. Zamora
Docket: 10-796
Issue(s): (1) Whether the policy against federal interference with state criminal prosecutions similarly precludes a finding that state criminal restitution payments can be preferences under 11 U.S.C. § 547(b); (2) whether criminal restitution, which is ordered to further the state's goals of deterrence and rehabilitation, is ?to or for the benefit of a creditor? under 11 U.S.C. § 547(b).

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (9th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Amicus brief of California Counties et al.
• Petitioner's reply

The following petitions have been re-listed for the conference of March 18.  If any other paid petitions are re-distributed for this conference, we will add them below as soon as their re-distribution is noted on the docket.

Title: Maples v. Allen
Docket: 10-63
Issue(s): (1) Whether the Eleventh Circuit properly held that the purported state procedural default rule is ?adequate? as a matter of federal law to bar federal habeas review of serious constitutional claims and (2) whether the Eleventh Circuit properly held that there was no ?cause? to excuse any procedural default where petitioner was blameless for the default, the state's own conduct contributed to the default, and petitioner's attorneys of record were no longer functioning as his agents at the time of any default.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (11th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Second supplemental brief for petitioner
• First supplemental brief for petitioner
• Supplemental brief for respondent
• Amicus brief of Alabama Appellate Court Justices et al.
• Amicus brief of the Alabama Criminal Defense Lawyers Association
• Amicus brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
• Amicus brief of the Constitution Project
• Petitioner's reply

Title: Huber v. New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection
Docket: 10-388
Issue(s): (1) Whether the evidence obtained by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection during an unannounced, warrantless inspection of wetlands in the backyard behind petitioners' home, over their repeated objections, should be suppressed because it was obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment; (2) whether the Fourth Amendment entitles petitioners to greater protection from warrantless searches and seizures on their residential property than a closely regulated business, even when their property contains regulated wetlands; (3) whether the warrantless inspection and seizure of soil samples at petitioners' property was valid under the ?special public needs? exception to the warrant requirement; and (4) whether residents lose the right to be free from warrantless inspections of their property due to the presence of regulated wetlands.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioners' reply

Title: Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC
Docket: 10-553
Issue(s): Whether the ministerial exception, which prohibits most employment-related lawsuits against religious organizations by employees performing religious functions, applies to a teacher at a religious elementary school who teaches the full secular curriculum, but also teaches daily religion classes, is a commissioned minister, and regularly leads students in prayer and worship.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (6th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition of the EEOC
• Brief in opposition of respondent Cheryl Perich
• Amicus brief of religious organizations
• Amicus brief of Christian Reformed Church in North America et al.
• Amicus brief of International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention et al.
• Petitioner's reply brief

Title: Weishuhn v. Catholic Diocese of Lansing
Docket: 10-760
Issue(s): (1) Whether the ministerial exception grounded in the First Amendment bars employees of religious institutions, from asserting a state civil rights claim where the employment action does not involve selection of employees or an examination of church doctrine; (2) whether an employee of a religious institution who is found to be a ministerial employee should be barred from bringing a state whistleblowers' action.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (Court of Appeals of Michigan)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition

Title: Philip Morris USA Inc. v. Jackson
Docket: 10-735
Issue(s): Whether the Due Process Clause prevents state courts from employing the class-action device to eliminate fundamental substantive and procedural protections that would otherwise apply to adjudications of class members' individual claims.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (Court of Appeal of Louisiana, 4th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioners' reply
• Amicus brief of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States
• Amicus brief of the Pacific Legal Foundation
• Amicus brief of DRI - The Voice of the Defense Bar
• Amicus brief of the Washington Legal Foundation

Title: Felkner v. Jackson
Docket: 10-797
Issue(s): Whether a ruling by the court of appeals on habeas, reversing a district court's decision and finding a state prosecutor's proffered race-neutral bases for peremptorily striking two out of three African-American jurors insufficient, satisfies the restrictions on habeas corpus relief imposed by Congress in 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d)?

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (9th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioner's reply

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on March 15, 2011 (boomark / email).