ALF & DRI Argue That Climate-Change Damages Suits Belong in Federal, Not State, Courts

ALF Amicus Briefs, All Amicus Briefs, Atlantic Legal Foundation, DRI, Federal Courts of Appeals, Other Amicus Briefs, State Appellate Courts /

Bolstered by climate-change activists and the plaintiffs’ contingency-fee bar, more than two dozen state and local governments around the nation have filed state-court suits seeking damages from fossil fuel energy companies for allegedly causing, or contributing to, global climate change through greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions.  Masquerading as state-law nuisance and trespass suits, they seek “climate […]

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all things amicus

ALF Amicus Brief Argues SEC Lacks Expertise To Rule On Its Own Constitutionality

ALF Amicus Briefs, All Amicus Briefs, Atlantic Legal Foundation /

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two separate cases that raise essentially the same question: Can an SEC or FTC civil enforcement target file a district court action challenging the constitutionality of how these independent regulatory agencies’ in-house adjudicatory proceedings are structured? Or to obtain judicial review of such a structural constitutional claim, does

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Justices Should Give Feds’ Roundup Amicus Little Weight

All Publications, Commentary, Federal Preemption, Published Articles, US Supreme Court /

Law360 has published my sharply critical Expert Analysis of the amicus brief that the U.S. Solicitor General recently submitted to the Supreme Court in Monsanto Co. v. Hardeman, No. 21-241. My analysis explains that – “From the perspective of product liability defense attorneys, the brief from the solicitor general is a transparently partisan, short-sighted effort to

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all things amicus

Amicus Brief Argues “Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied” In FTC Constitutional Challenge

ALF Amicus Briefs, All Amicus Briefs, Atlantic Legal Foundation /

The Atlantic Legal Foundation has filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to hold, contrary to the Ninth Circuit, that federal district courts can exercise their federal question jurisdiction over constitutional challenges to the structure of the Federal Trade Commission’s civil administrative enforcement process.  In a divided opinion, a Ninth Circuit panel held in Axon Enterprise, Inc.

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Welcome News! The Supreme Court Proposes to Ditch the Amicus Brief Consent Requirement

All Publications, Amicus Strategy & Procedure, Commentary, Published Articles, US Supreme Court /

The Supreme Court recently proposed to eliminate the requirement to obtain the parties’ consent, or the Court’s permission, to file an amicus brief. I have written a short insight piece for DRI’s new online publication, The Brief Case, about this important development. My article raises a fundamental point about amicus briefs: Since the purpose of

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all things amicus

Amicus Brief Urges Supreme Court To Avoid “Takings” Issues When Interpreting Scope Of Clean Water Act

ALF Amicus Briefs, All Amicus Briefs, Atlantic Legal Foundation, US Supreme Court /

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers impose onerous Clean Water Act permitting requirements in connection with discharge of dredged or fill material on private property that those agencies deem wetlands encompassed by “the waters of the United States”—the vague phrase that Congress chose to define “navigable waters” subject

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Amicus Brief Webinar for King County (Washington) Bar Association

All Publications, Amicus Strategy & Procedure, Presentations /

I am delighted that the King County (Washington) Bar Association invited me to present to its members a 60-minute webinar on drafting effective amicus briefs and using them strategically. The webinar, presented live on March 14, 2022, was moderated by Rory Cosgrove of Carney Badley Spellman in Seattle. Rory is a former chair the bar

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Webinar on Supreme Court Practice

All Publications, Amicus Strategy & Procedure, Presentations, US Supreme Court /

On March 4, 2022, I was pleased to participate in a 90-minute continuing legal education webinar titled “Procedures, Practice Pointers, & Winning Strategies When Your Case is Headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.” The webinar, sponsored by the DuPage County (Illinois) Bar Association, emphasized written Supreme Court advocacy at the certiorari-petition stage, which is where

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Amicus Brief Urges Supreme Court To Keep “Junk Science” Away From Juries

ALF Amicus Briefs, All Amicus Briefs, Atlantic Legal Foundation, US Supreme Court /

3M Company v. Amador The Atlantic Legal Foundation (ALF), joined by Washington Legal Foundation and DRI-The Voice of the Defense Bar, has filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to hear an appeal that challenges the Eighth Circuit’s lax interpretation and application of Federal Rule of Evidence 702 (Testimony by Expert Witnesses). Rule 702 was amended more than 20 years

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