Acting Solicitor General files four more invitation briefs
on Jun 3, 2011 at 3:27 pm
In a post last week, we reported that the Acting Solicitor General filed invitation briefs in nine cases in which petitions are pending. (Our full list of pending petitions, including those in which the Court has called for the views of the Solicitor General, is available here). Since then, he has filed invitation briefs in four more cases, recommending that cert. be denied in all four. The invitation briefs, as well as more specifics on each case, are below; the Court will consider these petitions before it recesses for the summer at the end of June. Also, in a brief filed on May 6, the Acting Solicitor General recommended that the petition be granted in John Crane, Inc. v. Atwell, a case that the Justices considered during yesterday’s Conference.
Title: Kingdom of Spain v. Estate of Claude Cassirer
Docket: 10-786
Issue(s): (1) Whether the FSIA “expropriation exception” permits United States courts to strip a foreign sovereign of its presumptive sovereign immunity simply because it owns property allegedly taken in violation of international law by another nation?  (2) Whether a plaintiff relying on the FSIA’s expropriation exception must exhaust available remedies in the relevant country before invoking the jurisdiction of United States courts?
Certiorari stage documents:
CVSG Information:
- Invited: March 21, 2011
- Filed: May 27, 2011 (Deny)
Title: Saleh v. Titan Corp.
Docket: 09-1313
Issue(s): 1) Whether the court of appeals erred by finding that claims for torture and other war crimes cannot be brought against private actors under the Alien Tort Statute; and 2) whether the court of appeals erred by creating a “battle-field preemption” doctrine that extends derivative sovereign immunity to contractors.
Certiorari stage documents:
- Opinion below (D.C. Circuit)
- Petition for certiorari
- Brief of CACI International in opposition
- Brief of Titan Corp. in opposition
- Petitioners’ reply
- Amicus brief for Professors of Federal Courts, International Law, and U.S. Foreign Relations Law
- Amicus brief for Retired Military Officers
- Amicus brief for Human Rights First et al.
CVSG Information:
- Invited: October 4, 2010
- Filed: May 27, 2011 (Deny)
Title: Von Saher v. Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena
Docket: 09-1254
Issue(s): (1) Whether, in enacting a state statute extending the statute of limitations applicable to claims for the recovery of property stolen during the Holocaust against museums and galleries, the State of California was addressing an area of “traditional state responsibility” without intruding on the federal foreign affairs power; (2) whether a state statute extending the statute of limitations for the recovery of property stolen during the Holocaust is preempted by the federal foreign affairs power to make and resolve war; and (3) whether California Code of Civil Procedure § 354.3 is facially unconstitutional when the application to the case at bar poses no constitutional infirmity.
Certiorari stage documents:
- Opinion below (9th Circuit)
- Petition for certiorari
- Brief in opposition
- Amicus brief of Bet Tzedek Legal Services et al.
- Amicus brief for the State of California
- Amicus brief for the Commission for Art Recovery
- Petitioner’s reply
CVSG Information:
- Invited: October 4, 2010
- Filed: May 27, 2011 (Deny)
Title: Osage Nation v. Irby
Docket: 10-537
Issue(s): (1) Whether, in determining whether Congress “disestablished an Indian reservation,” pursuant to Solem v. Bartlett (1984), courts are limited to the statutory text, legislative history, and views of the Executive Branch or can instead also consider other external indicia; and (2) whether the lower court properly ruled that a Native American tribe’s reservation had been “disestablished.”
Certiorari stage documents:
- Opinion below (10th Circuit)
- Petition for certiorari
- Brief in opposition
- Amicus brief of the National Congress of American Indians
- Petitioner’s reply
CVSG Information:
- Invited: February 22, 2011
- Filed: May 27, 2011 (Deny)
