The Court heard arguments in two cases yesterday. In FTC v. Phoebe Putney Health System, the Court considered when states may pass on immunity from federal antitrust laws to private firms that they have assigned to perform a public task. At this blog, Lyle Denniston reports that the Justices “came away apparently unsatisfied” that the respondent, a hospital monopoly in Georgia, had made the requisite showing to obtain such immunity. The Albany (Ga.) Herald and the Associated Press (via The Washington Post) have additional coverage.
In Vance v. Ball State University, the Court considered the limits of the “supervisor” liability rule established by Faragher v. City of Boca Raton and Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth. Lyle Denniston of this blog has coverage, as do Greg Stohr of Bloomberg, Nina Totenberg of NPR, Adam Liptak of The New York Times, Robert Barnes of The Washington Post, Jonathan Stempel of Reuters, Bill Mears of CNN, David G. Savage of the Los Angeles Times, Lauren Weber of The Wall Street Journal, and Jesse J. Holland of the Associated Press. Transcripts of arguments in both cases are available here.
The Court also issued additional orders from its November 20 Conference. Writing for this blog, Lyle covered the order list, which included an order reviving Liberty University’s challenge to the individual and employer mandates of the Affordable Care Act. Greg Stohr of Bloomberg, Mark Sherman of the Associated Press, Jess Bravin of the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, UPI, Warren Richey of the Christian Science Monitor, Debra Cassens Weiss of the ABA Journal, Sarah Kliff of The Washington Post, David G. Savage of the Los Angeles Times,, Rick Ungar of Forbes, and Terry Baynes and Jonathan Stempel of Reuters all have coverage of the Court’s health care order, while Samuel Bagenstos at Balkinization, Amanda Simon of ACSblog, and Daniel Fisher of Forbes offer commentary.
Other coverage of yesterday’s order list focused on cases in which the Court denied review yesterday. Greg Stohr of Bloomberg, the Associated Press, Bruce Alpert of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Jonathan Stempel of Reuters, Mark Memmott of NPR, and Paul Singer of USA Today all cover the Court’s denial of the petition filed by Louisiana congressman William Jefferson, who was convicted on corruption charges.
The Associated Press and McClatchy Newspapers cover the denial of cert. in The California Table Grape Commission v. Delano Farms Co., in which a trade association is seeking review of a lower court’s decision allowing private companies to challenge in court the Commission’s patents on certain types of grapes.
Michael Tarm of the Associated Press, Eyder Peralta of NPR, Jason Meisner of the Chicago Tribune, Mark Guarino of the Christian Science Monitor, and Martha Neil of the ABA Journal cover the Court’s order denying review of a decision finding unconstitutional parts of an Illinois anti-eavesdropping law used to arrest citizens recording police officers.
Greg Stohr of Bloomberg, Robert Barnes of The Washington Post, David G. Savage of the Los Angeles Times, Warren Richey of the Christian Science Monitor, and Debra Cassens Weiss of the ABA Journal cover the Court’s denial in a case challenging Idaho’s restriction of the insanity defense. Elizabeth Wydra of the Constitutional Accountability Center describes the denial as “disappointing,” but Douglas A. Berman of Sentencing Law and Policy explains why he isn’t troubled. [Disclosure: The firm of Goldstein & Russell, P.C., whose attorneys contribute to this blog in various capacities, was among the counsel to the petition in this case.]
Finally, coverage of the challenges to the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s Proposition 8, which the Court will consider at its Conference on Friday, comes from Howard Mintz of the San Jose Mercury News, David G. Savage of the Los Angeles Times, Brooke Sopelsa and Mike Sacks of the Huffington Post, and Lisa Leff of the Associated Press. And Lyle Denniston of this blog begins a four-part series on the same-sex marriage cases in anticipation of Friday’s Conference.
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