Editor's Note :

This Thursday, June 20, we will begin live blogging at 9 a.m. ET. We expect opinions in argued cases at 10 a.m.

Petitions We’re Watching

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Petitions We're Watching
Docket Case Page Issue(s) CVSG
11-46 Adar v. Smith (1) Whether a state violates the Full Faith and Credit Clause when an executive official selectively disregards some out-of-state judgments of adoption based on policy assessments of the wisdom of those judgments; (2) whether 42 U.S.C. § 1983 provides a remedy for a violation of the Full Faith and Credit Clause; and (3) whether a state violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment when, based on its disapproval of the unmarried status of a child’s adoptive parents, the state refuses to issue the child with an accurate, amended birth certificate. N/A
12-960 Akamai Technologies v. Limelight Networks Whether a party may be liable for infringement under either section of the patent infringement statute, 35 U.S.C. §271(a) or § 271(b), where two or more entities join together to perform all of the steps of a process claim. N/A
12-1167 Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers v. Environmental Protection Agency (1) Whether engine manufacturers have standing under Article III because they demonstrated that the Clean Air Act's waiver for the fuel additive "E15" (15% ethanol/85% gasoline) will cause them injury in fact; (2) whether prudential standing is non-jurisdictional and therefore can be waived by a government agency’s (here, EPA’s) failure to raise it; and (3) whether, in assessing a regulated entity’s Article III standing to challenge regulatory action, an apparent “option” to comply with a statutory scheme should be viewed as coercive if use of the “option” is practically required. N/A
12-1057 Allison Engine Company v. U.S. Whether Section 3729(a)(1)(B) of the False Claims Act applies retroactively to cases pending on or after June 7, 2008, where no allegedly false claim for payment was pending on or after that date. N/A
12-550 Alpha I, LP v. U.S. 1) Whether the penalty under 26 U.S.C. § 6662 for an overvaluation misstatement is applicable to any underpayment of tax that may result from adjustments made by the IRS in a notice of Final Partnership Administrative Adjustment (“FPAA”) issued to a partnership, when that partnership concedes the adjustments asserted in the FPAA on a ground that is separate from valuation. 2) Whether a court has jurisdiction in a partnership-level proceeding under the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (“TEFRA”) (i.e., 26 U.S.C. §§ 6221—6233) to determine whether a partner’s transfer of his or her partnership interest was a sham, based on the possibility that the trial court might make findings not urged by either party but that would support the court’s jurisdiction. N/A
12-1229 American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers v. Environmental Protection Agency Whether parties adversely affected by agency action lack Article III standing to challenge the action if the harms are also linked to related statutory requirements or competitive pressures, or might in theory be avoided through means other than litigation. N/A
12-1183 American Lung Association v. EME Homer City Generation (1) Whether the statutory challenges to EPA’s methodology for defining upwind states’ “significant contributions” were properly before the court, given the failure of anyone to raise these objections at all, let alone with the requisite “reasonable specificity,” “during the period for public comment,” 42 U.S.C. § 7607(d)(7)(B); (2) whether the court’s imposition of its own detailed methodology for implementing the Good Neighbor provision violated foundational principles governing judicial review of administrative decision-making; and (3) whether an upwind state that is polluting a downwind state is free of any obligations under the Good Neighbor provision unless and until EPA has quantified the upwind state’s contribution to downwind states’ air pollution problems. N/A
11-363 Amgen Inc. v. New York (1) Whether a claim can be deemed “false or fraudulent” within the meaning of the False Claims Act because the claimant violated a statutory, regulatory or contractual obligation and, at the time the claim was submitted, the government payor could have but was not required to deny the claim on that ground; and (2) whether the provisions of the False Claims Act can be used to enforce compliance with statutes, regulations, contractual obligations, or other program requirements, even though no statute, regulation or contractual provision expressly conditions payment on compliance with those obligations. N/A
12-651 Amy and Vicky, Child Pornography Victims v. U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington Whether, when the Mandatory Restitution for Sexual Exploitation of Children Statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2259, provides that a court “shall order restitution” for a victim of child pornography “in the full amount of the victim’s losses,” which are defined to include several specified categories as well as “any other losses suffered by the victim as a proximate cause of the offense,” a defendant is excused from paying restitution for the itemized loss categories unless there is proof that the victim’s losses were the proximate result of an individual defendant’s child pornography crime. N/A
12-1118 Apuzzo v. Securities and Exchange Commission Whether, to satisfy the “substantial assistance” requirement of Section 20(e) of the Securities Exchange Act, which authorizes the Securities and Exchange Commission to bring civil aiding-and-abetting claims, the SEC must allege and prove that the defendant’s conduct was a proximate cause of the primary violation. N/A
12-911 AU Optronics Corporation v. South Carolina Whether the citizenship of the persons on whose behalf monetary relief claims are brought by a state may satisfy the Class Action Fairness Act's minimal diversity requirement as set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 1332(d)(2)(A)-(C) and (d)(1)(D) for purposes of CAFA mass action jurisdiction even if those persons are not named plaintiffs. N/A
12-407 Bass Pro Outdoor World, L.L.C. v. Kelly 1. Given that this Court has said that a single digit maximum ratio between punitive damages and compensatory damages is appropriate in all but the most exceptional of cases, but greater ratios may comport with due process when “a particularly egregious act has resulted in only a small amount of economic damages,” what factors determine whether conduct is “particularly egregious,” whether economic damages are “small” as opposed to nominal, and what upper limits apply once a single digit ratio is exceeded? 2. When economic damages are above nominal, but arguably “small,” does a punitive damages award that bears a triple-digit ratio to the compensatory damages violate Ppetitioner’s due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution? N/A
12-13 Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the U.S. House of Representatives v. Gill (1) Whether Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, 1 U.S.C. § 7, violates the equal protection component of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment; and (2) whether the court below erred by inventing and applying to Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act a previously unknown standard of equal protection review. N/A
12-785 Bipartisan Legal Advocacy Group of the U.S. House of Representatives v. Windsor Whether Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, 1 U.S.C. § 7, violates the equal protection component of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. N/A
12-23 Brewer v. Diaz Whether the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ignored this Court’s precedent and erred in holding that Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) Section 38-651(O) (Section O) violates the Equal Protection Clause by limiting healthcare benefits to state employees’ spouses and dependents – and thus not extending such benefits to state employees’ domestic partners – given that a) Section O is facially neutral and there is no evidence that the Legislature intended to discriminate based on sexual orientation; b) Section O furthers the State’s interests in promoting marriage while also eliminating the additional expense and administrative burdens involved in providing healthcare benefits to state employees’ domestic partners; and c) the court’s reason for finding that Section O discriminates against gay and lesbian state employees was that Arizona prohibits same-sex marriage. N/A
11-1497 Byrne v. Wood, Herron & Evans, LLP (1) Whether the Federal Circuit departed from the standard this Court articulated in Grable & Sons Metal Products, Inc. v. Darue Engineering & Manufacturing for “arising under” jurisdiction of the federal courts under 28 U.S.C. §1338, when it held that state law legal malpractice tort claims which involve no actual patents and have no impact on actual patent rights come within the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal courts because a patent was involved in the underlying litigation; and (2) whether the Federal Circuit’s overly broad and mistaken standard has caused a conflict among state courts and federal courts regarding federal jurisdiction with some other courts declining to assume federal jurisdiction of these state law tort cases. N/A
12-6142 Calhoun v. U.S. (1) Whether it is fundamental or structural error not amenable to meaningful review for the government to resort to racial prejudice or stereotypes as an indicia of guilt; (2) If it is not structural error, is it always plain error for the government to interject racial stereotypes into a trial in order to show the defendant’s guilt? N/A
12-622 Cassens Transport Company v. Brown Whether an employee who suffered a physical injury in the workplace asserts an injury to “business or property” within the meaning of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”), 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c), by alleging that the employee was denied workers’ compensation benefits for the physical injury or that the employee’s ability to pursue a benefits claim stemming from the physical injury was impaired. N/A
12-747 Cerdant v. DHL Express (USA) Is a class representative in a putative class action faced with a Rule 68 offer of judgment in excess of its potential recovery that makes no reference to class claims required to reject said offer, proceed to trial, and bear all of the costs of continuing litigation in order to preserve its right to appellate review of a denial of class certification? N/A
12-747 Cerdant v. DHL Express (USA) Is a class representative in a putative class action faced with a Rule 68 offer of judgment in excess of its potential recovery that makes no reference to class claims required to reject said offer, proceed to trial, and bear all of the costs of continuing litigation in order to preserve its right to appellate review of a denial of class certification? N/A
12-1094 Cline v. Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice Whether the Oklahoma Supreme Court erred in holding – without analysis or discussion – that the Oklahoma law requiring that abortion-inducing drugs be administered according to the protocol described on the drugs’ FDA-approved labels is facially unconstitutional under Planned Parenthood v. Casey. N/A
12-744 Convergent Outsourcing v. Zinni Does an offer to provide a plaintiff with all of the relief he has requested, including more than the legal amount of damages plus costs and reasonable attorney’s fees, fail to moot the underlying claim because the defendant has not also offered to agree to the entry of a judgment against it? N/A
12-15 Department of Health and Human Services v. Massachusetts Whether Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, 1 U.S.C. 7, violates the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection of the laws as applied to persons of the same sex who are legally married under the laws of their state. N/A
12-6230 Deyton v. Keller (1) For purposes of federal habeas review, has the U.S. Supreme Court clearly established the rule that due process prohibits a state court judge from taking into account his own religious beliefs in sentencing a defendant? (2) Did the state court judge violate petitioners’ due process rights when the judge told petitioners, following their guilty plea to the robbery at a church, that they had stolen God’s money intended for the establishment of a religious kingdom on earth and then sentenced each of them to 53 to 71 years? (3) Did the sentences of petitioners, who were adolescents without any serious prior record and did not harm anyone in the robbery, violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment? N/A
12-1044 Donaldson v. Department of Homeland Security Whether or under what circumstances a federal agency may cancel a vacancy for the purpose of hiring a non-veteran over a disabled veteran who is ranked higher on a list of qualified candidates. N/A
12-1056 Dunn v. U.S. (1) Whether a conspiracy charge under 18 U.S.C. § 371 which alleges violations of both the defraud and offense prongs of that statute presents one or two offenses; (2) whether an ends-of-justice finding necessary to grant an excludable continuance under the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7), can be inferred based solely on the context in which the district court granted a continuance rather than the court’s reasoning “on the record" and (3) whether a sentencing court violates the Ex Post Facto Clause by using the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines in effect at the time of sentencing, rather than the Guidelines in effect at the time of the offense, when the newer Guidelines create a significant risk that a defendant will receive a higher sentence. N/A
12-755 Elmbrook School District v. Doe (1) Whether the Establishment Clause prohibits the government from conducting public functions such as high school graduation exercises in a church building, where the function has no religious content and the government selected the venue for reasons of secular convenience; (2) whether the government “coerces” religious activity in violation of Lee v. Weisman and Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe where there is no pressure to engage in a religious practice or activity, but merely exposure to religious symbols; and (3) whether the government “endorses” religion when it engages in a religion-neutral action that incidentally exposes citizens to a private religious message. N/A
12-1182 Environmental Protection Agency v. EME Homer City Generation (1) Whether the court of appeals lacked jurisdiction to consider the challenges to the Clean Air Act on which it granted relief; (2) whether states are excused from adopting state implementation plans prohibiting emissions that “contribute significantly” to air pollution problems in other states until after the EPA has adopted a rule quantifying each state’s inter-state pollution obligations; and (3) whether the EPA permissibly interpreted the statutory term “contribute significantly” so as to define each upwind state’s “significant” interstate air pollution contributions in light of the cost-effective emission reductions it can make to improve air quality in polluted downwind areas, or whether the Act instead unambiguously requires the EPA to consider only each upwind state’s physically proportionate responsibility for each downwind air quality problem. N/A
12-1200 Executive Benefits Insurance Agency v. Arkison (1) Whether Article III permits the exercise of the judicial power of the United States by bankruptcy courts on the basis of litigant consent, and, if so, whether "implied consent" based on a litigant’s conduct, where the statutory scheme provides the litigant no notice that its consent is required, is sufficient to satisfy Article III; and (2) whether a bankruptcy judge may submit proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law for de novo review by a district court in a “core” proceeding under 28 U.S.C. 157(b). N/A
12-751 Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer (1) Whether the Sixth Circuit erred by holding that respondents were not required to plausibly allege in their complaint that the fiduciaries of an employee stock ownership plan abused their discretion by remaining invested in employer stock, in order to overcome the presumption that their decision to invest in employer stock was reasonable, as required by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1101 et seq. (“ERISA”), and every other circuit to address the issue; and (2) whether the Sixth Circuit erred by refusing to follow precedent of this Court (and the holdings of every other circuit to address the issue) by holding that filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission become actionable ERISA fiduciary communications merely by virtue of their incorporation by reference into plan documents. 03/25/2013
12-1076 Fleming v. Moswin (1) Whether plaintiffs are entitled to a new trial when defendants' race-neutral explanation for their peremptory challenge of a black venireperson was not supported by the record; and (2) whether the preliminary issue of plaintiffs having established a prima facie showing is moot. N/A
12-7516 Gallow v. Cooper Whether a federal court can consider new evidence to support a state prisoner’s application for habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), when the state court record was not developed as a result of incompetent and likely conflicted post-conviction counsel. N/A
12-1302 Garcia v. Louisiana (1) Whether the Court should modify Mickens v. Taylor to apply the automatic reversal rule in Holloway v. Arkansas where (a) the prosecution advises a trial court that the appointment of a particular lawyer in a capital case to represent multiple defendants may create a conflict of interest; (b) the appointed lawyer informs the court that he is financially unable to appoint capitally certified counsel for each of the co-defendants; (c) the court acknowledges these conflicts of interest, but delegates resolution of them to the same lawyer; (d) the conflicted attorney then advocates in a manner intended to prevent death sentences for the co-defendants; and (e) the trial court declines to intervene; and (2) whether the Louisiana Supreme Court’s opinion finding no "actual conflict" in this case demonstrates the need for this Court to address the split in the Circuit Courts concerning the standard for determining whether "an actual conflict of interest adversely affected [a] lawyer’s performance" and thereby settle an important question of federal constitutional law. N/A
12-1055 Grocery Manufacturers Association v. Environmental Protection Agency (1) Whether prudential standing is jurisdictional, as the D.C., Second, and Sixth Circuits have held, or whether it is non-jurisdictional and can be conceded or waived by a defending party, as the Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth, and Federal Circuits have held; (2) whether, when Congress enacts a comprehensive and integrated statute governing a single subject matter, a group of petitioners whose interests Congress expressly identified and protected are in the “zone of interests” of that statute and therefore have prudential standing to challenge an agency decision issued under it; and (3) whether regulated industries have constitutional standing to challenge a rule that, as an integral part of a comprehensive regulatory scheme, imposes substantial new burdens on those industries. N/A
12-804 Grounds v. Sessoms (1) Whether, when the suspect in custody makes an ambiguous or equivocal reference to counsel before receiving Miranda warnings, “clearly established Federal law” as determined by this Court forbids the police from advising the suspect of his Miranda rights and then conducting an interrogation after he waives them; and (2) whether, under the “highly deferential” standard of review set out in 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d), it was objectively unreasonable for the state court to conclude that respondent did not unambiguously and unequivocally invoke his right to counsel before receiving Miranda warnings. N/A
12-691 Hammond v. Sheets (1) Whether the federal courts below correctly decided to exclude Petitioner’s evidence provided in support of the factual basis of his claim that ineffective assistance of counsel violated his Sixth Amendment rights during his state trial; (2) whether Ohio law operated to establish a right to assistance of counsel in post-conviction proceedings, as well as a right to effective assistance of counsel through the Sixth Amendment, or whether it operates to excuse procedural defaults bringing a substantive claim of ineffective assistance of counsel in an initial-review collateral proceeding where there was either no counsel or ineffective counsel; (3) whether the federal courts below correctly decided that sufficient evidence supports Petitioner’s conviction for rape as required by due process guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment. N/A
11-681 Harris v. Quinn (1) Whether a state may, consistent with the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, compel personal care providers to accept and financially support a private organization as their exclusive representative to petition the state for greater reimbursements from its Medicaid programs; and (2) whether the lower court erred in holding that the claims of providers in the Home Based Support Services Program are not ripe for judicial review. N/A
12-683 James v. Federal Election Commission When appellant wishes to take funds that may be legally contributed to political action committees and party committees, and instead contribute those same funds directly to additional candidate committees, whether the three-judge district court erred in dismissing her facial and as-applied challenge to Section 307(b) of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, 2 U.S.C. § 441a(a)(3)(A), which imposes a limit of $37,500 on total contributions to all individual candidates. N/A
12-1175 Jefferson County School District R-1 v. Elizabeth E. Whether the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires a school district to pay for a residential placement that is required to treat a child’s mental illness. N/A
12-1185 Jeffries v. U.S. Whether, in light of the plain meaning of “threat” and the constitutional rule of Virgina v. Black, a conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c) for “transmit[ing] in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing . . . any threat to injure the person of another,” requires proof of a subjective or specific intent to threaten. N/A
12-140 Kentucky v. King (1) Whether the hot pursuit exception to the warrant requirement is contingent on a subjective determination of pursuit; and (2) what constitutes a serious offense for purposes of dispensing with the warrant requirement; and what test or tests is proper to determine when warrantless entry is permissible. N/A
11-418 Khaburzania v. New York Whether this Court's mandate that by virtue of the Constitution, counsel must advise their clients of the immigration consequences of a criminal plea is applicable retroactively. N/A
12-150 Kwong v. Holder (1) Whether an abstract of judgment, which is prepared by a court clerk for sentencing purposes after a defendant’s guilty plea and without the defendant’s input, qualifies as a conclusive record made or used in adjudicating guilt sufficient to determine the nature of a prior conviction under Shepard v. United States; and (2) whether a burglary conviction in a state that does not require an unlawful or unprivileged entry can be considered a crime of violence under Leocal v. Ashcroft, when it is not a violent felony under Taylor v. United States. N/A
12-1092 Lattimore v. U.S. Whether the Fifth Circuit erred when, in direct conflict with the Eighth and Ninth Circuits, it held that the discretionary function exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act shields the government from liability for negligence that results when the failure to follow objective, scientific principles causes a decision maker to forgo action resulting in harm to persons or property. N/A
11-438 Liberty University v. Geithner (1) Whether the Anti-Injunction Act (AIA) bars courts from deciding the limits of federal power to enact a novel and unprecedented law that forces individuals into the stream of commerce and coerces employers to reorder their business to enter into a government-mandated and heavily regulated health insurance program when the challenged mandates are penalties, not taxes, where the government argues Congress never intended the AIA to apply, and where the petitioners are currently being forced to comply with various parts of the law and thus have no other alternative remedy but the present action; (2) whether Congress exceeded its enumerated powers by enacting a novel and unprecedented law that forces individuals who otherwise are not market participants to enter the stream of commerce and purchase a comprehensive but vaguely defined and burdensome health insurance product, and if so, to what extent can this essential part of the statutory scheme be severed; and (3) whether Congress exceeded its enumerated powers by enacting a novel and unprecedented law that forces private employers into the health insurance market and requires them to enter into third-party contracts to provide a comprehensive but a vaguely defined health insurance product to their employees and extended beneficiaries, and if so, to what extent can this essential part of the statutory scheme be severed. N/A
12-786 Limelight Networks v. Akamai Technologies Whether the Federal Circuit erred in holding that a defendant may be held liable for inducing patent infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(b) even though no one has committed direct infringement under § 271(a). N/A
12-820 Lozano v. Alvarez (1) Whether a district court considering a petition under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction for the return of an abducted child may equitably toll the running of the one-year filing period when the abducting parent has concealed the whereabouts of the child from the left-behind parent; and (2) whether an abducted child can be “settled” in the United States, within the meaning of Article 12 of the Convention, where it is undisputed that both the abducting parent and the child are residing illegally in the United States, and the abducting parent presents no evidence of a legitimate pending application or basis under existing law for seeking a change in their immigration status. N/A
11-1536 Lucas v. U.S. Whether the sentencing terms of 18 U.S.C. §§ 924(c)(1)(A) (i)-(iii) constitute escalating, fixed sentences, or instead mere minimum sentences with implicit maximums of life in prison. N/A
11-9843 Lyons v. Mitchell Whether a habeas petitioner’s Federal constitutional claim of denial of due process in the admission against him of gruesome photographic evidence has been “adjudicated on the merits” for purposes of 28 U.S.C. § 2254(d) where the State court decision affirming the trial judge’s admission of such evidence in the exercise of her discretion never addressed the petitioner’s claim of denial of Federal due process in its admission. N/A
12-604 Madison County v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York Whether the 300,000-acre ancient Oneida reservation in New York still exists, neither disestablished nor diminished, despite (1) the federal government’s actions taken in furtherance of disestablishment (including, but not limited to, the 1838 Treaty of Buffalo Creek); (2) this Court’s holding in City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York that the Oneida Indian Nation of New York cannot exercise sovereignty over lands it purchases in the ancient reservation area; and (3) this Court’s finding in that case that land in the ancient reservation area has not been treated as an Indian reservation by the federal, state or local governments for nearly two centuries. 2/19/2013
12-6355 Marrero v. U.S. (1) Whether this court should grant certiorari to resolve the circuit split regarding what a sentencing court can consider when applying the modified categorical Approach? Specifically, some courts of appeals have held that sentencing courts can consider charging documents and plea colloquies only to determine which crime the defendant committed when his prior offense Occurred. Others have held that sentencing courts can also consider those documents to determine how the defendant committed the prior offense and (2) whether after the Supreme Court’s decision in Begay v. United States, the question of whether a crime is a crime of violence depends upon whether the elements require Conduct which is “violent, purposeful, and aggressive.” Should the analysis of Begay apply, even if an offense is enumerated in application note 1 to U.S.S.G. § 4b1.2, the definition section of the career offender guidelines? N/A
12-1173 Marvin M. Brandt Irrevocable Trust v. U.S. Whether the United States retained an implied reversionary interest in rights-of-way created by the General Railroad Right-of-Way Act of 1875 rights-of-way after the underlying lands were patented into private ownership. N/A
12-97 Massachusetts v. Dept. of Health and Human Services (1) Whether Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), 1 U.S.C. § 7, violates the Tenth Amendment; and (2) whether Section 3 of DOMA violates the Spending Clause, U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 1. N/A
12-930 Mayorkas v. Cuellar de Osorio (1) Whether Section 1153(h)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act– which provides rules for determining whether particular aliens qualify as “children” so that they can obtain visas or adjustments of their immigration status as derivative beneficiaries of sponsored family member immigrants (also known as “primary beneficiaries”) – unambiguously grants relief to all aliens who qualify as “child” derivative beneficiaries at the time a visa petition is filed but age out of qualification by the time the visa becomes available to the primary beneficiary; and (2) whether the Board of Immigration Appeals reasonably interpreted Section 1153(h)(3). N/A
12-565 McCormick v. Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (1) Whether assets which a Medicaid recipient divested during her lifetime fall within that individual’s “estate” as defined in 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(b)(4); and (2) if not, whether 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(b)(4) preempts Idaho statutes and regulations that authorize the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to assert Medicaid recovery claims against assets in which the Medicaid recipient did not have any legal title to or interest in at the time of the recipient’s death. N/A
12-1168 McCullen v. Coakley (1) Whether the First Circuit erred in upholding Massachusetts’s selective exclusion law – which makes it a crime for speakers other than clinic “employees or agents . . . acting within the scope of their employment” to “enter or remain on a public way or sidewalk” within thirty-five feet of an entrance, exit, or driveway of “a reproductive health care facility” – under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, on its face and as applied to petitioners; (2) whether, if Hill v. Colorado permits enforcement of this law, Hill should be limited or overruled. N/A
12-245 Merck & Co. v. Louisiana Wholesale Drug Company Whether the federal antitrust laws permit a brand-name manufacturer that holds the patent for a drug to enter into a settlement of patent litigation with a prospective generic manufacturer, where the settlement includes a payment from the brand manufacturer to the generic manufacturer but does not exclude competition beyond the scope of the patent. N/A
12-515 Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Community (1) Whether a federal court has jurisdiction to enjoin activity that violates the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), 25 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq., but takes place outside of Indian lands; and (2) whether tribal sovereign immunity bars a state from suing in federal court to enjoin a tribe from violating IGRA outside of Indian lands. N/A
12-239 Minnesota v. Sahr Whether this Court should address an issue it reserved in Serfass v. United States and Sanabria v. United States, on whether “a defendant who is afforded an opportunity to obtain a determination of a legal defense prior to trial and nevertheless knowingly allows himself to be placed in jeopardy before raising the defense” forfeits or waives his double jeopardy protections. N/A
12-1158 Mirror Worlds, LLC v. Apple Inc. (1) Whether the offer for sale and/or sale of a product that embodies a patented invention can directly infringe a method claim under 35 U.S.C. § 271(a); and (2) whether the Federal Circuit has created an improper de facto rule precluding the use of circumstantial evidence to establish that one or more steps in a patented method have been performed for the purpose of demonstrating infringement. N/A
12-312 Mulhall v. Unite Here Local 355 Whether intangible things can be “deliver[ed]” under Section 302(a)(2) of the Labor Management Relations Act, which makes it unlawful for employers “to pay, lend, or deliver, or agree to pay, lend, or deliver, any money or other thing of value . . . to any labor organization.” 29 U.S.C. § 186(a)(2). N/A
12-1281 National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning (1) Whether the President’s recess-appointment power may be exercised during a recess that occurs within a session of the Senate, or is instead limited to recesses that occur between enumerated sessions of the Senate, and (2) whether the President’s recess-appointment power may be exercised to fill vacancies that exist during a recess, or is instead limited to vacancies that first arose during that recess. N/A
12-980 Nevada v. Reliant Energy (1) Whether the decision of the Supreme Court of Nevada holding that the Nevada Attorney General’s action for damages under the Nevada state antitrust law is preempted as a matter of law by federal regulation of natural gas markets is in conflict with decisions of the Seventh and Ninth Circuits in Illinois ex rel Burris v. Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Co. and E. & J. Gallo Winery v. EnCana Corp.; and (2) whether it was error for the Nevada Supreme Court to base its “field preemption” conclusion on this Court’s decision in Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. v. State Oil & Gas Bd. Of Mississippi without regard to subsequent limitations of that decision in Puerto Rico Dept. of Consumer Affairs v. Isla Petroleum Corp. and subsequent changes in the relevant statutory and regulatory framework enacted by Congress and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. N/A
12-552 Ninestar Technology Co. v. Int'l Trade Commission Whether the initial authorized sale outside the United States of a patented item terminates all patent rights to that item. N/A
11-567 Noriega v. Torres (1) Whether, under Brower v. County of Inyo, 489 U.S. 593 (1989), a police officer’s accidental, inadvertent use of deadly force against an arrestee can constitute an unreasonable seizure under the Fourth Amendment; and (2) whether, under Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989), the standard for unreasonable force under the Fourth Amendment is identical to the standard of general negligence so that an officer may be held liable for the accidental, inadvertent use of deadly force against an arrestee; and (3) whether a police officer is entitled to qualified immunity for the accidental, inadvertent use of deadly force against an arrestee. N/A
12-16 Office of Personnel Management v. Golinski Whether Section 3 of Defense of Marriage Act, 1 U.S.C. 7, violates the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection of the laws as applied to persons of the same sex who are legally married under the laws of their state. N/A
12-302 Office of Personnel Management v. Pedersen Whether Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act violates the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection of the laws as applied to persons of the same sex who are legally married under the laws of their State. N/A
12-231 Pedersen v. Office of Personnel Management Whether Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”), 1 U.S.C. § 7, violates the equal protection guarantee of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as applied to legally married same-sex couples. N/A
12-300 Pfizer Inc. v. Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos Whether the Second Circuit erred by failing to apply as written a federal statute, 11 U.S.C. § 524(g)(4)(A)(ii), governing asbestos-related claims in chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, by construing the phrase “arises by reason of” as invoking only a legal standard rather than a factual inquiry, thereby limiting its scope in a manner that is contrary to its plain terms and that frustrates the congressional purposes of the statute. N/A
12-761 POM Wonderful LLC v. The Coca Cola Company Whether the court of appeals erred in holding that a private party cannot bring a Lanham Act claim challenging a product label regulated under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. 03/25/2013
12-1170 Pruitt v. Nova Health Systems (1) Whether the Oklahoma Supreme Court erred in declaring the Oklahoma Ultrasound Act, which requires the performance, display, and explanation of a pre-abortion ultrasound, to be facially unconstitutional under Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey in light of this Court’s ruling that informational requirements further "the State’s legitimate interest of reducing the risk that a woman may elect an abortion, only to discover later, with devastating psychological consequences, that her decision was not fully informed;" (2) whether the Oklahoma Supreme Court erred in interpreting Casey as prohibiting informed consent laws requiring the performance, display and explanation of pre-abortion ultrasounds – an interpretation that directly conflicts with that of the Fifth Circuit in Texas Medical Providers Providing Abortion Services v. Lakey and the interpretation of Casey in the Eighth Circuit’s recent decisions reviewing other informed consent requirements; and (3) whether Casey requires state courts to presume all state regulations of abortion are unconstitutional under federal law, absent controlling authority from this Court. N/A
12-165 RBS Citizens, N.A. v. Ross (1) Whether it is consistent with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes to hold that a defendant to a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3) class action has no right to raise statutory affirmative defenses on an individual basis if the classseeks “only” monetary relief; and (2) whether a district court can conclude that the Rule 23(a)(2) commonality requirement is satisfied when a class claims the denial of overtime pay, without resolving whether dissimilarities in the class would preclude it from establishing liability on a class-wide basis. N/A
12-842 Republic of Argentina v. NML Capital Whether post-judgment discovery in aid of enforcing a judgment against a foreign state can be ordered with respect to all assets of a foreign state regardless of their location or use, as held by the Second Circuit, or is limited to assets located in the United States that are potentially subject to execution under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 (“FSIA”), 28 U.S.C. § 1602 et seq., as held by the Seventh, Fifth, and Ninth Circuits. 04/15/2013
12-11 Ryan v. James Whether the Ninth Circuit’s panel opinion conflicts with the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and this Court's decisions in Harrington v. Richter, and Cullen v. Pinholster insofar as it (a) treated AEDPA’s deferential standard as a waivable defense, rather than an inherent restriction on a federal court’s authority, (b) refused to find that the state post-conviction (PCR) court issued a merits ruling on respondent’s ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim, when the state court expressly ruled that none of respondent’s PCR claims were colorable, and (c) considered evidence presented for the first time in federal court to grant habeas relief. N/A
12-1084 Ryan v. Schad (1) Whether the majority panel opinion order conflicts with Bell v. Thompson by staying the issuance of the Ninth Circuit’s mandate based on its reconsidering a motion it had already denied prior to certiorari review; (2) whether the order erred by applying Martinez v. Ryan rather than Cullen v. Pinholster when the district court did not find a procedural default, but rather considered Schad’s claim of ineffective assistance of counsel on the merits (that the state post-conviction court had denied on the merits), and alternative considered the merits of the claim in light of new evidence first presented in the federal habeas proceedings; (3) whether the order erred by remanding to the district court to reconsider the new evidence that it had already considered. N/A
12-1078 Samantar v. Yousuf Whether a foreign official’s common-law immunity for acts performed on behalf of a foreign state is abrogated by plaintiffs’ allegations that those official acts violate jus cogens norms of international law. N/A
12-335 Sanchez v. U.S. Whether, as the First Circuit alone has held, a lawsuit asserting claims arising out of federal employees’ conduct that is tortious is nevertheless implicitly exempt from the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”), which provides that the United States may be sued and shall be liable for the torts of federal employees acting within the scope of their employment, because the conduct also violates a federal statute, regulation, or policy that does not itself authorize suits for damages. N/A
12-1067 Sears, Roebuck and Co. v. Butler (1) Whether Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3)'s predominance requirement for class action certification can be satisfied based solely on a determination that it would be “efficient” to decide a single common question at trial, without considering any of the individual issues that would also need to be tried, and without determining whether the aggregate of common issues predominates over the aggregate of individual issues; and (2) whether a class may be certified on breach of warranty claims where it is undisputed that most members did not experience the alleged product defect and where fact of injury would have to be litigated on a member-by-member basis. N/A
12-1086 Sony Computer Entm't America LLC v. 1st Media, LLC Whether the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit erred in restricting district courts’ equitable discretion in evaluating patent unenforceability, contrary to this Court’s precedent in Keystone Driller Co. v. General Excavator Co., Hazel Atlas Glass Co. v. Hartford-Empire Co., and Precision Instrument Manufacturing Co. v. Automotive Maintenance Machinery Co., by applying a rigid test that (a) forecloses district courts from considering the entire circumstantial record; and (b) precludes district courts from granting equitable remedies where a patent applicant has violated the PTO’s duty of candor. 05/13/2013
12-7720 Strouth v. Colson (1) Whether this Court’s decision in Cullen v. Pinholster (2011), permits an exception whereby federal courts may consider newly developed evidence when the failure to develop that evidence in state court is a consequence of constrained process that is inadequate to develop the factual record; (2) whether this Court’s decision in Martinez v. Ryan (2012), applies to substantial ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims that were not raised in state court because constrained state court process prohibited development of the evidence that gives rise to the claim? N/A
22o141 Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado Whether New Mexico is in violation of the Rio Grande Compact and the Rio Grande Project Act, which apportion water to Rio Grande Project beneficiaries. 04/15/13
12-496 Texas v. U.S. (1) Whether the district court erred and exacerbated the constitutional difficulties with Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by requiring Texas to increase the number of majority-minority congressional districts in response to population growth, by treating “coalition” and “crossover” districts as protected under Section 5, and by applying a “functional” definition of retrogression that fails to give covered jurisdictions fair notice of the redistricting decisions that will be deemed to violate Section 5; (2) whether the district court erred and exacerbated the constitutional difficulties with Section 5 by finding a discriminatory purpose under the new permissive standard adopted by Congress in the 2006 reauthorization in attempting to abrogate this Court’s decision in Reno v. Bossier Parish School Bd.; (3) whether the district court erred and exacerbated the constitutional difficulties with Section 5 by allowing private intervenors to challenge the Texas Senate map, even though the Department of Justice conceded that this map was entitled to preclearance; and (4) whether the 2006 reauthorization of Section 5, as so construed, is constitutional, to the extent that the district court did not err in construing Section 5. N/A
11-117 Thomas More Law Center v. Obama (1) Whether Congress acted within its constitutional powers in passing the individual mandate provision of the Affordable Care Act; and (2) whether the individual mandate provision of the Act is unconstitutional as applied to the individual petitioners who lack health insurance. N/A
12-1208 UBS v. Union de Empleados Whether, consistent with the standard of review employed by other Circuit Courts of Appeals, but in direct conflict with the decision below, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit should have reviewed for abuse of discretion the District Court’s determination, pursuant to Rule 23.1, that the particularized facts alleged in a shareholder derivative complaint were insufficient to excuse a pre-suit demand on the corporation's board of directors. N/A
12-99 Unite Here Local 355 v. Mulhall Whether an employer and union may violate Section 302 of the Labor-Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 186, by entering into an agreement under which the employer exercises its freedom of speech by promising to remain neutral to union organizing, its property rights by granting union representatives limited access to the employer’s property and employees, and its freedom of contract by obtaining the union’s promise to forego its rights to picket, boycott, or otherwise put pressure on the employer’s business. N/A
12-265 Upsher-Smith Laboratories v. Louisiana Wholesale Drug Company Whether the Third Circuit erred by holding, contrary to the Second, Eleventh, and Federal Circuits, that an agreement settling patent litigation that does not restrict competition outside the scope of the exclusionary right granted by the patent itself may presumptively violate the antitrust laws. N/A
12-968 Uribe v. Johnson Whether Lafler v. Cooper and habeas corpus principles require certainty about the effect of a violation of the right of effective counsel during plea negotiations before granting relief less drastic than vacating the guilty plea. N/A
12-573 Village of Palatine v. Senne Whether the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (18 U.S.C. §§ 2721-2725) interferes with such quintessentially local government functions as a municipality’s decision concerning how much information to include on a parking ticket. N/A
11-420 Virginia v. Sebelius (1) Whether the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit erred when it became the first circuit to deny that a state of the Union has standing to defend its own code of laws; (2) whether the Fourth Circuit erred, and opened a circuit split, when it construed the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act contrary to the construction placed upon it by the chief law officer of the Commonwealth of Virginia by holding it to be merely symbolic and therefore not a real law capable of giving rise to a sovereign injury; (3) whether the Fourth Circuit erred when it read the political question doctrine prong of Massachusetts v. Mellon as having continued vitality so as to prevent a state from challenging an enactment of the United States on enumerated powers grounds; and (4) whether the power claimed by Congress in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to mandate that a citizen purchase a good or service from another citizen is unconstitutional because the claimed power exceeds the outer limits of the Commerce Clause even as executed by the Necessary and Proper Clause. N/A
12-322 Whirlpool Corp. v. Glazer (1) Whether a class may be certified under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3) even though most class members have not been harmed and could not sue on their own behalf; (2) whether a class may be certified without resolving factual disputes that bear directly on the requirements of Rule 23; and (3) whether a class may be certified without determining whether factual dissimilarities among putative class members give rise to individualized issues that predominate over any common issues. N/A
12-794 White v. Woodall (1) Whether the Sixth Circuit violated 28 U.S.C. 2254(d)(1) by granting habeas relief on the trial court's failure to provide a no adverse inference instruction even though the Supreme Court has not "clearly established" that such an instruction is required in a capital penalty phase when a non-testifying defendant has pled guilty to the crimes and aggravating circumstances; and (2) whether the Sixth Circuit violated the harmless error standard in Brecht v. Abrahamson in ruling that the absence of a no adverse interference instruction was not harmless in spite of overwhelming evidence of guilt and in the face of a guilty pleas to the crimes and aggravators. N/A
12-986 Wilson v. Flaherty Whether an actually innocent person is “in custody” within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 2254 if that person has been released from prison but remains subject for the rest of his life to sex offender registration and reporting requirements that limit where he can live and visit, and compel his regular appearance at particular places. N/A
12-63 Windsor v. U.S. Whether Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, 1 U.S.C. § 7, which defines the term “marriage” for all purposes under federal law as “only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife,” deprives same-sex couples who are lawfully married under the laws of their states (such as New York) of the equal protection of the laws, as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. N/A
12-6988 Womack v. U.S. Whether petitioner was erroneously denied his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights to present his defensive theory of lack of specific intent or mens rea. N/A
12-8505 Wright v. U.S. Whether, under the Mandatory Restitution for Sexual Exploitation of Children Statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2259, (1) the victim’s losses must be proximately caused by the defendant’s offense conduct to qualify for restitution under § 2259; (2) the restitution is limited to those losses caused by the conduct underlying the offense of conviction, as required by Hughey v. United States; (3) the conduct underlying the petitioner’s offense of conviction – possessing at least one of the victim’s images by downloading it from the Internet onto his computer without the victim’s knowledge – satisfy the causal connection required for the imposition of $529,611 in restitution; 18 U.S.C. § 3664(h) authorizes the imposition of joint and several liability for restitution on unrelated defendants in different cases in different judicial districts, and can the mechanism of joint and several liability be used to avoid determining the specific loss caused by the specific possessor of child pornography. N/A
11-1485 Young v. Fitzpatrick (1) Whether police officers, employed by the Puyallup Indian Tribe, but trained, certified, and cross-commissioned by the state of Washington, and armed, equipped, and provisioned by the United States, are subject to the Constitution, U.S. civil rights laws, and state tort law; (2) whether the Shelter or Conceal Clause of the Treaty of Medicine Creek, and additional sources of federal and state law, preempts any claims of qualified immunity by individual Puyallup tribal police officer defendants in a suit for violation of the Constitution, U.S. civil rights laws, and state tort law. N/A
11-740 Zurn Pex v. Cox When a party proffers expert testimony in support of or in opposition to a motion for class certification, may the district court rely on the testimony in ruling on the motion without conducting a full and conclusive examination of its admissibility under Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and this Court’s decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ? N/A
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