Who Needs “Calexit”? California Already Pretends It’s A Separate Nation

The so-called “Calexit” secession initiative not only is nonsensical, but also superfluous. California in many ways already acts as if it were its own sovereign nation, defiant of federal authority and oblivious to the interests of other States. This is federalism on steroids. In early April, Missouri and 10 other States filed an amicus curiae […]

Who Needs “Calexit”? California Already Pretends It’s A Separate Nation Read More »

DRI Center for Law & Public Policy Focuses on Civil Justice

Through scholarship, legal expertise, and advocacy, the Center for Law and Public Policy acts as a think tank and public voice for DRI and its 22,000 members on issues of importance to the civil litigation defense bar. As Chair of the DRI Amicus Committee, I am privileged to be part of the Center’s leadership. We met at DRI

DRI Center for Law & Public Policy Focuses on Civil Justice Read More »

Six Supreme Court Justices Reminisce

Who would have guessed when I graduated from Harvard Law School in June 1972 that my 45th  class reunion in October 2017 would coincide with that institution’s Bicentenntial celebration? The event began with a roundtable discussion among Dean John Manning and six current/former Supreme Court Justices, all of whom are Harvard Law School alumni.  No

Six Supreme Court Justices Reminisce Read More »

Federal Court Won’t Second-Guess U.S. Military Combat-Zone Decisions

After almost eight years of consolidated, multidistrict, pretrial proceedings—including massive jurisdictional discovery and a succession of dispositive motions and appeals—Judge Roger W. Titus of the U.S. District Court of the District of Maryland on July 19, 2017 dismissed in its entirety the “Burn Pit” toxic-tort multidistrict litigation.  The primary defendant, Kellogg Brown & Root Services,

Federal Court Won’t Second-Guess U.S. Military Combat-Zone Decisions Read More »

Is It Finally Time To Fix FIFRA Preemption?

FIFRA is the comprehensive federal statute that for the past 70 years has regulated “pesticides”—a term which encompasses a broad range of agricultural, professional, industrial, and consumer pest control products.   One of the most persistent as well as hotly contested areas of pesticide regulation involves the subject of “preemption”—the supremacy of federal law over

Is It Finally Time To Fix FIFRA Preemption? Read More »

Battlefield Contractor Immunity Article Quotes Larry Ebner

In a feature article published on July 14, Bloomberg Law/BNA Federal Contracts Report turned to Capital Appellate Advocacy founder Larry Ebner for insight on “battlefield contractor” immunity defenses and case law growing out of U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.   According to Ebner,  the D.C. Circuit’s 2009 decision in Saleh v. Titan Corp. is

Battlefield Contractor Immunity Article Quotes Larry Ebner Read More »

Hollow Victory for Anti-Pesticide Groups

In a 2-1 decision issued on June 30, the D.C. Circuit court of appeals has allowed the continued use of cyantraniliprole (“CTP”)—which is classified by EPA as a reduced-risk agricultural insecticide—despite EPA’s undisputed failure to comply with Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) requirements to make an endangered/threatened species “effects” determination and consult with federal wildlife agencies.  The declaratory

Hollow Victory for Anti-Pesticide Groups Read More »

Justice Gorsuch’s Exciting First Opinion

The Daily Caller’s June 12 headline declares that “Justice Gorsuch’s First SCOTUS Opinion Is Super Boring.”  Not so!  Justice Gorsuch is off to a rousing start by transforming what sounds like a super-boring topic—the meaning of “debt collector” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act—into an opinion that from the first phrase of the first sentence

Justice Gorsuch’s Exciting First Opinion Read More »

Scroll to Top