Federal Judiciary

This edition of ?Petitions to watch? features cases up for consideration at the Justices? January 21 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: City of Santa Rosa, California v. DeSantis
Docket: 10-434
Issue(s): (1) Whether a police officer is entitled to qualified immunity for the shooting of someone believed to be armed when alternative force options were available to other officers at the scene but not to the individual officer; (2) whether such conduct can evidence a purpose to harm without legitimate law enforcement purpose sufficient to support a Fourteenth Amendment claim against the officer; and (3) whether a court should deny qualified immunity to an officer based only on a portion of the plaintiff's testimony when six police officers and an independent eye witness testified that no reasonable trier of fact would find in the plaintiff's favor based on the entire record.

Certiorari stage documents:

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

Title: Terry v. Tyson Farms, Inc.
Docket: 10-542
Issue(s): (1) Whether an injury to competition must be pleaded and proved to establish liability for violation of § 192(a) and (b) of the Packers and Stockyards Act; and (2) whether, assuming that § 192 is ambiguous, the courts should have deferred, under Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., to Department of Agriculture decisions holding that § 192(a) and (b) does not require a showing of injury to competition.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (6th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Amicus brief of 55 Farming, Ranching, and Consumer Organizations
• Petitioner's reply (forthcoming)

Note: Goldstein, Howe & Russell represents the petitioner in this case, which is listed without regard to its likelihood of being granted

Title: Gangi v. Verizon New England, Inc.
Docket: 10-544
Issue(s): In 2001, the FCC determined that all calls to the internet are "jurisdictionally interstate" and established rate caps for internet-bound calls. (1) Whether states retain authority to regulate rates for the intrastate portion of telephone calls to (or from) the internet; and (2) whether parties to an interconnection agreement approved by a state commission may seek disputed interconnection charges in court without having first obtained a determination from the state commission.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (1st Cir.)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioner's reply

Title: Asworth, LLC v. Kentucky Department of Revenue, Finance, and Administration Cabinet
Docket: 10-662
Issue(s): 1) Whether a state violates the Commerce Clause by subjecting an out- of-state corporate partner to income tax when the partner has no property or employees in the state and the partner's only connection with the state is the holding of passive investment interests in entities that have in-state business operations; and 2) whether a state violates the Due Process Clause by enacting non-curative tax legislation that retrospectively denies interest on overpayments of court-ordered tax refunds on a retroactive basis of up to seventeen years.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (Court of Appeals of Kentucky)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioners' reply

Title: Morris v. Swofford
Docket: 10-712
Issue(s): 1) When two deputy sheriffs enter a property searching for felony suspects, and the deputies are forced to fire on the armed property owner in self-defense, are the circumstances of the deputies? initial entry onto the property relevant to the constitutionality of their subsequent use of force against the property owner; and 2) where two deputy sheriffs enter a property searching for felony suspects, and the property owner confronts them with a gun, is it clearly established, for purposes of qualified immunity, that the Fourth Amendment requires the deputies give a warning prior to shooting the property owner in self-defense?

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (11th Cir.)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioners' reply

Title: Miccosukee Tribe v. Kraus-Anderson Construction Co.
Docket: 10-717
Issue(s): Whether an action to obtain recognition of an Indian tribal court judgment presents a federal question under 28 U.S.C. § 1331.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (11th Cir.)
• Petition for certiorari
• Respondent's brief in support of petition for certiorari

The following petitions have been re-listed for the conference of January 21.  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: Swarthout v. Cooke
Docket: 10-333
Issue(s): Whether a federal court may grant habeas corpus relief to a state prisoner based on its view that the state court erred in applying the state-law standard of evidentiary sufficiency governing state parole decisions.

Certiorari stage documents:

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

Title: Sheets v. Simpson
Docket: 10-458
Issue(s): (1) Whether a prison inmate is in "custody" for Miranda purposes if law enforcement officers isolate and question him about criminal conduct occurring outside the prison but impose no additional restraints or coercive pressures beyond those inherent in ordinary prison confinement; and (2) whether a police officer violates clearly established Miranda law by advising a defendant who asks him whether a polygraph examination will confirm the veracity of the defendant's statements that defendant will not have any trouble if his statements are truthful, but that he should terminate the examination and consult an attorney if he is lying.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (6th Cir.)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Amicus brief of Michigan et al.
• Petitioner's reply

Title: Howes v. Fields
Docket: 10-680
Issue(s): Whether this Court?s clearly established precedent under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 holds that a prisoner is always "in custody" for purposes of Miranda any time that prisoner is isolated from the general prison population and questioned about conduct occurring outside the prison regardless of the surrounding circumstances.

Certiorari stage documents:

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

Title: Roberts v. Kauffman Racing Equipment, LLC
Docket: 10-617
Issue(s): Whether the Due Process Clause permits a state to exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant based solely on a claim that the defendant committed an intentional tort on the Internet knowing that the plaintiff resided in the forum State.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (Ohio Supreme Court)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Amicus brief of the Center for Democracy & Technology
• Petitioner's reply

Title: Brooks v. Gaenzle
Docket: 10-621
Issue(s): Whether a fleeing suspect, who was intentionally shot in the back by police but not immediately arrested, was ?seized? for Fourth Amendment purposes.

Certiorari stage documents:

• Opinion below (10th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioner's reply