On Wednesday, December 19, 2012 Robert Heron Bork died at age 85. I did not mourn. Bork first became infamous in 1973 for his role in the “Saturday night massacre” when as Solicitor General, the number three position in the Justice Department, he carried out, under President Nixon’s orders, the firing of Watergate Special Prosecutor […]
Last night, in a comment to my post from Tuesday, “Do‘Right to Work’ Laws Violate the Constitution Contracts Clause?”, reader PJR wrote: To a non-lawyer, it kinda looks like SCOTUS rejected the contracts argument in 1949, so unions would have to find someway to get the court(s) to reconsider–or is this wrong? If wrong, why […]
The case is Federal Trade Commission v. Watson Pharmaceuticals et al, No. 12-416. Via the New York Times comes this note: Last year, for the third time since 2003, the 11th Circuit upheld the agreements as long as the allegedly anticompetitive behavior that results — in this case, keeping the generic drug off the market […]
Lifted from a note from Beverly Mann in response to a query of mine, as a note of interest: Here’s a link to a long Politico article on those cases and on the prospects of their success: http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=67901EA4-2955-4FD7-A52E-1E8CB0EA8E56 Apparently it looks like the Supreme Court eventually will hear two or three of these cases, probably […]
Via Truthout comes this report from PR Watch: In a new lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), big energy extractors are pushing for carte blanche in their interactions with foreign governments, making it harder to track whether their deals are padding the coffers of dictators, warlords, or crony capitalists. The United States Chamber of […]
Beverly Mann makes Scotusblog roundup again: Monday’s oral arguments in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum continued to generate press yesterday. Coverage of the arguments comes from Jess Bravin of the Wall Street Journal, Garrett Epps at The Atlantic, Alison Frankel at Thomson Reuters, Steven D. Schwinn at Constitutional Law Prof Blog, Trey Childress at PrawfsBlawg, Julia […]
First, Justice Anthony Kennedy wants to know what possible connection there is between Esther Kiobel, the wrongs she says unfolded in Nigeria, and the United States. The answer the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Paul Hoffman, gives is that his clients live here because the U.S. government gave them asylum. Also, Royal Dutch Petroleum does plenty of business […]
In the comments to my post of yesterday titled, “Welcome Back, Supreme Court Justices! (Well, for the next two weeks, anyway.),” Angry Bear colleague Dan Becker wrote: Hi Bev, I have read about this case. Still unclear even after reading your piece as to what the law was for, to do and how the new […]
Well, it’s that time of year again—when the Supreme Court justices interrupt their primary careers of flitting around the world (some of them), or at least around the country (the remainder of them), to teach a law school course or two, to instruct high court justices in other countries on how to feign working full-time, […]
I think Thomas Jefferson would have said the more speech, the better. That’s what the First Amendment is all about. So long as the people know where the speech is coming from. … You are entitled to know where the speech is coming from — you know, information as to who contributed what. — Justice […]