Wisconsin Central Ltd. v. United States

Docket No.	Op. Below	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
17-530	7th Cir.	Apr 16, 2018 Tr.Aud.	Jun 21, 2018	5-4	Gorsuch	OT 2017

Holding: Employee stock options are not taxable “compensation” under the Railroad Retirement Tax Act of 1937.

Judgment: Reversed and remanded, 5-4, in an opinion by Justice Gorsuch on June 21, 2018. Justice Breyer filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan joined.

SCOTUSblog Coverage

Symposium: The court begins to strike back at the administrative state (Ilya Shapiro)
A "view" from the courtroom: Inching toward checkout for the term (Mark Walsh)
Opinion analysis: Railroads as the new tax shelter? (Daniel Hemel)
Argument analysis: : Justices grapple with what counts as “money” (Daniel Hemel)
Argument preview: Show me the stock options? (Daniel Hemel)
Court bulks up this term’s docket (UPDATED) (Amy Howe)

Date	Proceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
Oct 06 2017	Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 9, 2017)
Oct 26 2017	Order extending time to file response to petition to and including December 11, 2017.
Nov 09 2017	Brief amicus curiae of Association of American Railroads filed.
Dec 06 2017	Brief of respondent United States filed.
Dec 20 2017	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/5/2018.
Jan 08 2018	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/12/2018.
Jan 12 2018	Petition GRANTED.
Feb 16 2018	Brief of petitioners Wisconsin Central Ltd., et al. filed.
Feb 16 2018	Joint appendix filed. (Statement of costs filed)
Feb 23 2018	SET FOR ARGUMENT on Monday, April 16, 2018.
Feb 23 2018	Brief amici curiae of CSX Corporation and Union Pacific Railroad Company filed.
Feb 23 2018	Brief amicus curiae of Norfolk Southern Corporation filed.
Feb 23 2018	Brief amicus curiae of Association of American Railroads filed.
Mar 07 2018	CIRCULATED
Mar 19 2018	Brief of respondent United States filed. (Distributed)
Mar 30 2018	Record requested from the U.S.C.A. 7th Circuit.
Apr 02 2018	Record received from the U.S.C.A. 7th Circuit is electronic and located on PACER.
Apr 03 2018	Reply of petitioners Wisconsin Central Ltd., et al. filed. (Distributed)
Apr 16 2018	Argued. For petitioners: Thomas H. Dupree, Jr., Washington, D. C. For respondent: Rachel P. Kovner, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C.
Jun 21 2018	Judgment REVERSED and case REMANDED. Gorsuch, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito, JJ., joined. Breyer, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan, JJ., joined.
Jul 23 2018	JUDGMENT ISSUED.

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The Supreme Court released orders from the April 18 conference on Monday; the justices agreed to decide Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, consolidated with Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda, R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, CITGO Asphalt Refining Co. v. Frescati Shipping Co., Ltd., and Barton v. Barr. The justices also called for the views of the U.S. solicitor general in Putnam Investments, LLC v. Brotherston.
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On Wednesday, the justices released their opinion in Lamps Plus Inc. v. Varela.
On Monday, the justices heard oral argument in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media and Fort Bend County, Texas v. Davis.
On Tuesday morning, the justices heard oral argument in Department of Commerce v. New York. On Tuesday afternoon, they heard argument in Mitchell v. Wisconsin and Rehaif v. United States.
On Wednesday, the justices heard oral argument in Quarles v. United States and Taggart v. Lorenzen.
On Friday, the justices meet for their April 26 conference; John Elwood compiles the petitions relisted for this conference.
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  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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  (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.
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Cases argued	70
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Wisconsin Central Ltd. v. United States

SCOTUSblog Coverage

Featured Posts

Argument analysis: ACCA argument becomes a broader discussion of statutory interpretation – Rory Little

Practice Pointer: Digging into DIGs – Kevin Russell

Opinion analysis: The meaning of consent to class arbitration – Charlotte Garden

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Conference of April 26, 2019

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