Acosta-Febo v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust

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Acosta-Febo v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust

Argument preview: Justices to consider constitutionality of cross-shaped war memorial on public land – Amy Howe

Argument preview: Justices address circuit split on whether a period of pretrial imprisonment can toll a term of federal supervised release – Fiona Doherty

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Conference of February 15, 2019

Consolidated with:

Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust

Docket No.	Op. Below	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
15-255	1st Cir.	Mar 22, 2016 Tr.Aud.	Jun 13, 2016	5-2	Thomas	OT 2015

Holding: Section 903(1) of the Bankruptcy Code, which pre-empts state bankruptcy laws that enable insolvent municipalities to restructure their debts over the objections of creditors and instead requires municipalities to restructure such debts under Chapter 9 of the federal Bankruptcy Code, pre-empts the Puerto Rico Public Corporation Debt Enforcement and Recovery Act, which was enacted to enable the commonwealth’s public utilities to implement a recovery or restructuring plan for their debt.

Judgment: Affirmed, 5-2, in an opinion by Justice Thomas on June 13, 2016. Justice Sotomayor filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Ginsburg joined. Justice Alito took no part in the consideration or decision.

Opinion analysis: Puerto Rico's debt woes left to Congress (Lyle Denniston)
Argument analysis: If only Congress had taken the time to explain . . . (Lyle Denniston)
Argument preview: Puerto Rico's plea for debt rescue (Lyle Denniston)
Court to rule on Puerto Rico debt-relief options (Lyle Denniston)

Date	Proceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
Aug 26 2015	Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 30, 2015)
Sep 14 2015	Order extending time to file response to petition to and including October 23, 2015, for all respondents.
Sep 30 2015	Brief amicus curiae of Eduardo Bahatia, President of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico filed.
Oct 23 2015	Brief of respondent BlueMountain Capital Management, LLC in opposition filed. VIDED.
Oct 23 2015	Brief of respondents Franklin California Tax-Free Trust, et al. in opposition filed. VIDED.
Nov 9 2015	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of November 24, 2015.
Nov 9 2015	Reply of petitioners Melba Acosta-Febo, et al. filed. (Distributed)
Nov 30 2015	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of December 4, 2015.
Dec 4 2015	Petition GRANTED. The petition for a writ of certiorari in No. 15-233 is GRANTED. The cases are consolidated and a total of one hour is allotted for oral argument. Justice Alito took no part in the consideration or decision of these petitions.
Jan 19 2016	Joint appendix filed. (Two Volumes) VIDED. (Statement of costs filed)
Jan 19 2016	Brief of petitioners Melba Acosta-Febo, et al. filed. VIDED.
Jan 25 2016	Consent to the filing of amicus curiae briefs in support of either party or of neither party received from counsel for the petitioners.
Jan 25 2016	Brief amici curiae of Colegio de Abogados y Abogadas de Puerto Rico, et al. filed. VIDED.
Jan 26 2016	Consent to the filing of amicus curiae briefs, in support of either party or of neither party, received from counsel for respondent BlueMountain Capital Management, LLC ("BlueMountain"). VIDED
Jan 26 2016	Brief amicus curiae of Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority filed. VIDED.
Jan 26 2016	Brief amici curiae of Professors Clayton P. Gillette and David A. Skeel, Jr. filed. VIDED.
Jan 26 2016	Brief amici curiae of LatinoJustice PRLDEF, et al. filed. VIDED.
Jan 26 2016	Brief amici curiae of Puerto Rico Manufacturers Association filed. VIDED
Jan 29 2016	SET FOR ARGUMENT ON Tuesday, March 22, 2016. VIDED
Feb 1 2016	Consent to the filing of amicus curiae briefs, in support of either party or of neither party, received from counsel for respondents Franklin California Tax-Free Trust, et al.
Feb 8 2016	Record requested from U.S.C.A. 1st Circuit.
Feb 10 2016	CIRCULATED.
Feb 10 2016	Record received from U.S.D.C. District of Puerto Rico is electronic and located on PACER.
Feb 11 2016	Record received from U.S.C.A. 1st Circuit is electronic and located on PACER, with the exception of Joint Appendix. (1 Box)
Feb 18 2016	Brief of respondent BlueMountain Capital Management, LLC filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
Feb 18 2016	Brief of respondents Franklin California Tax-Free Trust, et al. filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
Feb 25 2016	Brief amicus curiae of Scotiabank de Puerto Rico, as Agent for Local Bank Lenders to PREPA filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
Feb 25 2016	Brief amicus curiae of The Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
Feb 25 2016	Brief amicus curiae of The Association of Financial Guaranty Insurers filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
Mar 15 2016	Reply of petitioners Melba Acosta-Febo, et al. filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
Mar 22 2016	Argued. For petitioners: Christopher Landau, Washington, D. C. For respondents: Matthew D. McGill, Washington, D. C. VIDED
Jun 13 2016	Adjudged to be AFFIRMED. Thomas, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Kennedy, Breyer, and Kagan, JJ., joined. Sotomayor, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Ginsburg, J., joined. Alito, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of these cases. VIDED
Jul 15 2016	JUDGMENT ISSUED

Featured Posts

Argument preview: Justices to consider constitutionality of cross-shaped war memorial on public land – Amy Howe

Argument preview: Justices address circuit split on whether a period of pretrial imprisonment can toll a term of federal supervised release – Fiona Doherty

Relist Watch – John Elwood
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The Supreme Court released orders from the February 15 conference on Tuesday; the justices added County of Maui, Hawaii v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund to next term's merits docket and summarily reversed in Moore v. Texas.
On Wednesday the justices released their opinions in Dawson v. Steager and Timbs v. Indiana.
On Tuesday, the justices heard oral argument in Return Mail Inc. v. United States Postal Service.
On Wednesday, the justices heard oral argument in Mission Product Holdings Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC.
On Friday, the justices met for their February 22 conference; John Elwood's Relist Watch compiles the petitions that were relisted for this conference.
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- Lamone v. Benisek
  In case in which the plaintiffs allege that a Maryland congressional district was gerrymandered to retaliate against them for their political views: (1) whether the various legal claims articulated by the three-judge district court are unmanageable; (2) whether the three-judge district court erred when, in granting plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, it resolved disputes of material fact as to multiple elements of plaintiffs’ claims, failed to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and treated as “undisputed” evidence that is the subject of still-unresolved hearsay and other evidentiary objections; and (3) whether the three-judge district court abused its discretion in entering an injunction despite the plaintiffs’ years-long delay in seeking injunctive relief, rendering the remedy applicable to at most one election before the next decennial census necessitates another redistricting.
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- The American Legion v. American Humanist Association
  (1) Whether a 93-year-old memorial to the fallen of World War I is unconstitutional merely because it is shaped like a cross; (2) whether the constitutionality of a passive display incorporating religious symbolism should be assessed under the tests articulated in Lemon v. Kurtzman, Van Orden v. Perry, Town of Greece v. Galloway or some other test; and (3) whether, if the test from Lemon v. Kurtzman applies, the expenditure of funds for the routine upkeep and maintenance of a cross-shaped war memorial, without more, amounts to an excessive entanglement with religion in violation of the First Amendment.
- Gamble v. United States
  Whether the Supreme Court should overrule the “separate sovereigns” exception to the double jeopardy clause.
see all this term’s cases »
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- Dawson v. Steager By taxing the federal pension benefits of U.S. Marshals Service retiree James Dawson, while exempting from taxation the pension benefits of certain state and local law enforcement officers, West Virginia unlawfully discriminates against Dawson as 4 U.S.C. §111 forbids.
- Timbs v. Indiana The Eighth Amendment’s excessive fines clause is an incorporated protection applicable to the states under the 14th Amendment’s due process clause.
- Moore v. Texas The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ redetermination that Bobby James Moore does not have an intellectual disability and is thus eligible for the death penalty is inconsistent with the Supreme Court's 2017 decision in Moore v. Texas.
see all this term’s cases »
Current Relists
- Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda Whether the prohibition in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2(a)(1), against employment discrimination “because of . . . sex” encompasses discrimination based on an individual’s sexual orientation.
- Baxter v. United States (1) Whether a conviction for robbery under Florida law qualifies as a “violent felony” within the Armed Career Criminal Act’s elements clause simply because it requires overcoming victim resistance, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has held, or whether such a conviction fails to qualify as an ACCA “violent felony” because Florida caselaw confirms that overcoming victim resistance does not invariably requires the use of “violent force” as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has held; and (2) whether a conviction for any state robbery offense that includes “as an element” the common law requirement of overcoming “victim resistance” is categorically a “violent felony” within the ACCA’s elements clause if the offense has been specifically interpreted by state appellate courts to require only slight force to overcome resistance.
- Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia Whether discrimination against an employee because of sexual orientation constitutes prohibited employment discrimination “because of . . . sex” within the meaning of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2.
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Cases decided 13

Summary reversals 3

Merits cases granted to date 74

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Justice Sotomayor at the Library of Congress

On February 14, Justice Sonia Sotomayor appeared at the Library of Congress with Chief Judge Robert Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit and Professor Eloise Pasachoff of the Georgetown University Law Center for the Supreme Court Fellows Annual Lecture.

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Cases argued	45
Cases decided	13
Summary reversals	3
Merits cases granted to date	74

15
Conference

19
Orders
RETURN MAIL INC. V. U.S. POSTAL SERVICE (17-1594)

20
MISSION PRODUCT HOLDINGS INC. V. TEMPNOLOGY INC. (17-1657)
Opinions

22
Conference

25
Orders
MANHATTAN COMMUNITY ACCESS CORP. V. HALLECK (17-1702)

26
UNITED STATES V. HAYMOND (17-1672)
MONT V. UNITED STATES (17-8995)
Opinions

27
THE AMERICAN LEGION V. AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION (17-1717)
Opinions