Petitions of the week

This week we highlight petitions pending before the Supreme Court that address, among other things, whether compulsory display-and-describe ultrasound laws, such as the Kentucky Ultrasound Informed Consent Act, abridge physicians’ freedom of speech in violation of the First Amendment; whether a floral designer’s First Amendment rights to free exercise and free speech protect her from having to create custom floral art celebrating same-sex weddings; and whether a Massachusetts ban on the possession of firearms and ammunition magazines for lawful purposes infringes an individual’s Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

The petitions of the week are below the jump:

Arlene’s Flowers Inc. v. Washington

19-333

Issues: (1) Whether a state violates a floral designer’s First Amendment rights to free exercise and free speech by forcing her to take part in and create custom floral art celebrating same-sex weddings or by acting based on hostility toward her religious beliefs; and (2) whether the free exercise clause’s prohibition on religious hostility applies to the executive branch.

Thompson v. Saul

19-376

Issue: Whether, when a party mistakenly but timely files a case in a forum that lacks jurisdiction, that can ever support equitably tolling the statute of limitations.

Monroe County Commission v. A.A. Nettles, Sr. Properties Limited

19-386

Disclosure: Goldstein & Russell, P.C., whose attorneys contribute to this blog in various capacities, is among the counsel to the petitioner in this case. This listing occurs without regard to the likelihood that certiorari will be granted.

Issue: Whether federal law giving the Surface Transportation Board exclusive jurisdiction over abandonment of rail lines and expressly stating that conversion of a railroad right-of-way to an interim trail use shall not be treated “for purposes of any law” as abandonment preempts state law that would deem a railroad right-of-way abandoned because of disuse or conversion to interim trail use.

Worman v. Healey

19-404

Issue: Whether Massachusetts’ ban on the possession of firearms and ammunition magazines for lawful purposes unconstitutionally infringes the individual right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment.

EMW Women’s Surgical Center v. Meier

19-417

Issue: Whether compulsory display-and-describe ultrasound laws, such as the Kentucky Ultrasound Informed Consent Act, abridge physicians’ freedom of speech in violation of the First Amendment.