Federal Judiciary

Case Pages for Grants from the Long Conference

By Anna Christensen

This morning, the Court granted certiorari in fourteen cases, which we covered in our live blog; the full orders list is here.  The following cases were granted for argument in the 2010 Term:

Title: Smith v. Bayer Corp. (Granted )
Docket: 09-1205
Issue(s): 1. Whether, under the re-litigation exception of the Anti-Injunction Act, a district court can enjoin parties from seeking class certification in state court under state procedural rules when the district court had previously denied certification of a similar class under federal procedural rules but neither the parties sought to be estopped nor the issues to be presented in state court are identical as those presented to the district court. 2. Whether a district court that previously denied class certification nonetheless has personal jurisdiction over the absent putative class members such that it may enjoin them from seeking class certification in state court.

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Opinion Below (8th Circuit)
• Petition for Certiorari
• Petitioner's Reply
• Brief in oppostition

The grant is limited to question 1 in the case below:

Title: Kentucky v. King (Granted )
Docket: 09-1272
Issue(s): Under what circumstances can lawful police action impermissibly ?create? exigent circumstances that preclude warrantless entry?

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Opinion below (Supreme Court of Kentucky)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioner's reply
• Amicus brief of states

Title: Astra USA, Inc. v. Santa Clara County (Granted )
Docket: 09-1273
Issue(s): Whether, in the absence of a private right of action to enforce a statute, federal courts have the federal common law authority to confer a private right of action simply because the statutory requirement sought to be enforced is embodied in a contract. (Kagan, J., recused.)

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Opinion below (9th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Amicus brief for the US Chamber of Commerce
• Amicus brief for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
• Petitioners' reply

Justice Kagan is recused from the case above.

Title: Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T, Inc. (Granted )
Docket: 09-1279
Issue(s): Whether Exemption 7(C) of the Freedom of Information Act ? which exempts from mandatory disclosure records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes when such disclosure could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of ?personal privacy? ? protects the ?privacy? of corporate entities. (Kagan, J., recused.)

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Opinion below (3d Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition for AT&T
• Amicus brief of Public Citizen et al.
• Brief of respondent Comptel in support of petition
• Petitioners' reply

Justice Kagan is recused from the case above.

The two cases below are consolidated and the cert. grant is limited to question 1 in 09-1298 and to question 2 in 09-1302:

Title: General Dynamics Corp. v. United States (Granted )
Docket: 09-1298
Issue(s): Whether the government can maintain its claim against a party when it invokes the state-secrets privilege to completely deny that party a defense to the claim.

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Opinion below (Federal Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioner's reply
• Amicus brief for the Chamber of Commerce
• Amicus brief for the National Defense Industrial Association

Title: The Boeing Company v. United States (Granted )
Docket: 09-1302
Issue(s): Whether the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment permits the government to maintain a claim while simultaneously asserting the state-secrets privilege to bar presentation of a prima facie valid defense to that claim.

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Opinion below (Federal Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioner's reply
• Amicus brief for the Chamber of Commerce
• Amicus brief for the National Defense Industrial Association

The case below will be argued in tandem with 10-76:

Title: J. McIntyre Machinery v. Nicastro (Granted )
Docket: 09-1343
Issue(s): Whether, consistent with the Due Process Clause and pursuant to the stream-of-commerce theory, a state may exercise in personam jurisdiction over a foreign manufacturer when the manufacturer targets the U.S. market for the sale of its product and that product is purchased by a forum state consumer.

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Opinion below (Supreme Court of New Jersey)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioner's reply

Title: United States v. Tinklenberg (Granted )
Docket: 09-1498
Issue(s): Whether the time between the filing of a pretrial motion and its disposition is automatically excluded from the deadline for commencing trial under the Speedy Trial Act of 1974, or is instead excluded only if the motion actually causes a postponement, or the expectation of a postponement, of the trial. (Kagan, J., recused.)

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

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

Justice Kagan is recused from the case above.

Title: Freeman v. United States (Granted )
Docket: 09-10245
Issue(s):

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Opinion below (6th Circuit)

Title: Bullcoming v. New Mexico (Granted )
Docket: 09-10876
Issue(s):

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Opinion below (Supreme Court of New Mexico)

Title: Sykes v. United States (Granted )
Docket: 09-11311
Issue(s):

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Opinion below (7th Circuit)

Title: Goodyear v. Brown (Granted )
Docket: 10-76
Issue(s): Whether a foreign corporation is subject to general personal jurisdiction, on causes of action not arising out of or related to any contacts between it and the forum state, merely because other entities distribute in the forum state products placed in the stream of commerce by the defendant.

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Opinion below (Court of Appeals of North Carolina)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Amicus brief for the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America
• Petitioners' reply

The case below is granted limited to questions 1, 2, and 3.

Title: Stern v. Marshall (Granted )
Docket: 10-179
Issue(s): (1) Whether the Ninth Circuit?s interpretation of 28 U.S.C. § 157(b)(2)(C) contravenes congressional intent; (2) whether Congress may authorize core jurisdiction over debtors? compulsory counterclaims to proofs of claim; and (3) whether the Ninth Circuit contravened Supreme Court precedent and created a circuit split by holding that Congress cannot constitutionally authorize non-Article III bankruptcy judges to enter final judgment on all compulsory counterclaims to proofs of claim.

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

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

Title: Schindler Elevator Corp. v. US ex rel. Kirk (Granted )
Docket: 10-188
Issue(s): Whether a federal agency?s response to a Freedom of Information Act request is a ?report . . . or investigation? within the meaning of the False Claims Act public disclosure bar, 31 U.S.C. § 3730(e)(4). (Kagan, J., recused.)

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Opinion below (2d Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Amicus brief for the Equal Employment Advisory Council
• Amicus brief for the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America

Justice Kagan is recused from the case above.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on September 28, 2010 (boomark / email).