United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) food and labeling standards define foie gras as duck or goose liver “obtained exclusively from specially fed and fattened geese and ducks.” This centuries-old process, long used in France , involves “force feeding” geese and ducks to enlarge their livers. It is the only way to produce genuine foie gras. California, […]
The Supreme Court on December 5 announced revisions to its rules—including elimination of the requirement that an amicus curiae obtain either the parties’ consent or the Court’s permission prior to filing its friend-of-the-court brief. “Deleting the consent requirement reflects how commonplace the filing of amicus briefs has become in the Supreme Court. The federal courts of appeals should follow
Supreme Court Ditches Amicus Consent Requirement Read More »
The Atlantic Legal Foundation has filed a Supreme Court merits-stage amicus brief, advocating for broad attorney-client privilege protection, including for in-house corporate counsel. Case Background The attorney-client privilege protects the confidentiality of communications between lawyers and their clients. In Upjohn Co. v. United States, 449 U.S. 383 (1981), the Supreme Court held that the privilege applies in
ALF Brief Supports Broad Protection For Attorney-Client Communications Read More »
Case Background Parents Defending Education, a nonprofit organization that promotes “the restoration of a healthy, non-political education” for the nation’s children, has filed federal district court litigation challenging an Iowa public school district’s transgender student policy. This policy, titled Administrative Regulations Regarding Transgender and Students Nonconforming to Gender Role Stereotypes, purports “to expeditiously address the needs
The plaintiffs in Changizi v. Department of Health and Human Services allege that the federal government, primarily through the Office of the Surgeon General, has pressured Twitter and other social media to censor them and other individuals who “question the wisdom, efficacy, and morality of government responses to the [COVID-19] pandemic, specifically lockdowns and mask and vaccine
The certiorari petition in Glenhaven Healthcare LLC v. Saldana, No. 22-192, presents an important and frequently recurring question that has enormous implications for public health as well as civil justice: Whether COVID-19-related personal-injury and wrongful-death suits, which implicate the immunity-from-suit-and-liability provision and additional legal protections expressly afforded to healthcare facilities and workers by the Public Readiness and
On behalf of the Atlantic Legal Foundation (ALF), I have filed a merits-stage amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to hold in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Ry. Co., No. 21-1168, that a nonresident corporation cannot be subjected to a State’s general jurisdiction merely because, as required by the State, it registers to do business. This is
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
ALF & DRI Argue That Climate-Change Damages Suits Belong in Federal, Not State, Courts Read More »
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
ALF Amicus Brief Argues SEC Lacks Expertise To Rule On Its Own Constitutionality Read More »
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.
Amicus Brief Argues “Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied” In FTC Constitutional Challenge Read More »
