Petitions to Watch | Conference of 6.11.09

This edition of “Petitions to Watch” features cases up for consideration at the Justices’ private conference on June 11. As always, the list contains the petitions on the Court’s paid docket that Tom has deemed to have a reasonable chance of being granted.  A new blog feature: to access previous editions of Petitions to Watch,  click on the “Petitions to Watch” tab in top navigation bar. Links to previous editions are also available in our archives on SCOTUSwiki.

Docket: 08-763
Title:  Mabry v. United States
Issue: Whether the holding in Roe v. Flores-Ortega is applicable in a habeas case where the defendant has entered into a plea agreement that includes a waiver of the right to take an appeal or to collaterally attack the sentence.

• Opinion below (3rd Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioner’s reply brief

Docket: 08-998
Title:  Hamilton v. Lanning
Issue: Did the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 eliminate judicial discretion by requiring an above-median income debtor to pay to unsecured creditors the net result reported on Official Form 22C?

• Opinion below (10th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari

Docket: 08-1134
Title:  United Student Aid Funds, Inc. v. Espinosa
Issue:  Where a debtor declares to discharge a student loan debt in his Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan, has the debtor satisfied the due process requirements of Mullane v. Cent. Hanover Bank & Trust Co, and does the fact that the debtor failed to initiate an adversary proceeding render the enforceability of the discharge order under 11 U.S.C. 1327(a)inapplicable?

• Opinion below (9th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioner’s reply brief
• Brief amicus curiae of Oregon et al. (in support of petitioners)
• Brief amicus curiae of Educational Credit Management Corporation (in support of petitioners)
• Brief amicus curiae of National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs, Inc., et al. (in support of petitioners)

Docket: 08-1198
Title:  Stolt-Nielsen S.A., et al. v. AnimalFeeds International Corp.
Issue: Whether imposing class arbitration on parties whose arbitration clauses are silent on that issue is consistent with the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§ 1 et seq.

• Opinion below (2nd Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioner’s reply brief
• Brief amicus curiae of Association of Ship Brokers & Agents(in support of petitioners)
• Brief amicus curiae of Society of Maritime Arbitrators, Inc. (in support of petitioners)
• Brief amicus curiae of Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America (in support of petitioners)

Cases involving lawyers from Akin Gump or Howe & Russell (listed without regard to likelihood of being granted):

Docket: 08-987
Title:  Campa v. United States
Issue:  Did the Eleventh Circuit err in holding that petitioners did not establish a right to change venue and does a party’s failure to use all of its peremptory strikes to strike all minority members of the juror per se preclude a prima facie challenge under Batson v. Kentucky ?

• Opinion below (11th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioner’s reply brief
• Brief amicus curiae of Jose Ramos-Horta, Wole Soyinka, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Nadine Gordimer, Rigoberta Menchu, Jose Saramago, Zhores Alferov, Dario Fo, Gunter Grass, and Mairead Corrigan Maguire
• Brief amicus curiae of National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
• Brief amicus curiae of Cuban-American Scholars, et al.
• Brief amicus curiae of Ibero-American Federation of Ombudsmen, et al.
• Brief amicus curiae of National Jury Project
• Brief amicus curiae of William C. Velsaques Institute and the Mexican American Political Association
• Brief amicus curiae of National Lawyers Guild and National Conference of Black Lawyers
• Brief amicus curiae of The Civil Rights Clinic at Howard University School of Law
• Brief amicus curiae of International Association of Democratic Lawyers, et al.
• Brief amicus curiae of Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers-Miami Chapter
• Brief amicus curiae of Center for International Policy and the Council on Hemispheric Affairs
• Brief amicus curiae of the Senate of the United Mexican States, et al.

[Akin Gump represents the petitioner]