What can we expect from Second Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor if she clears the Senate confirmation gauntlet and ascends to the U.S. Supreme Court?
By "we", Blawgletter means you and me — mostly lawyers who handle commercial cases but with a smattering of the clients who love them. Plus the occasional judge.
We won't find
President Barack Obama today nominated Second Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace retiring Associate Justice David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court. NYT article here, WSJ here, Washington Post here, FOX News here, CNN here.
Judge Sotomayor grew up in the Bronx; graduated summa cum laude from Princeton in 1976
A new federal statute that took effect last week, the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, broadened the Civil War-era False Claims Act. (FERA did several other things, too. See White House "fact sheet" here.)
The False Claims Act in general authorizes private citizens to sue for the federal government. Suits aim to recover civil
In 1999, the U.S. Department of Justice sued tobacco makers and others for lying about cigarettes — the addictiveness of nicotine, the link between smoking and health problems (including lung cancer), and the safety of "light" and "low tar" taters. The government alleged that the defendants formed an illegal association-in-fact "enterprise" and engaged in a
This 1974 bad boy drank 14 gallons per mile.
A federal law can, and often does, set nation-wide standards. Take the old cap on speed limits. Between 1974 and 1995, the maximum road velocity ranged from 55 to 65 miles per hour across the U.S.
The example points up a second aspect of nation-wide federal rules. Before the energy crisis in
Jess Bravin of the WSJ writes today that, "[a]s conservatives gear up to oppose President Barack Obama's eventual choice for the Supreme Court, the Republican Party's traditional heart — the business community — is laying low." He cites "guarded optimism about the president's eventual pick."
What do you think? Would these short-listers strike a Souter-like
Lest you have any doubt about how far the "plausibility standard" of Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007), will reach, witness what the majority said yesterday on that score in Ashcroft v. Iqbal, No. 07-1015, slip op. at 20 (U.S. May 18, 2009):
Respondent . . . says that our decision
Kimberly Kralowec at The UCL Practitioner reports (and reports) on a key California Supreme Court decision from Monday. The Court ruled that the Golden State hadn't gutted a consumer protection law when voters passed Proposition 64 five years ago, in 2004. In re Tobacco II Cases, No. 147345 (Cal. May 18, 2009).
The defendants, several tobacco
A 5-4 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court held today that high federal officials need not answer civil claims over post-9/11 detention policies. The Court ordered dismissal of a complaint by Javaid Iqbal, a Pakistani, against former Attorney General John Ashcroft and ex-FBI Director Robert Mueller. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, No. 07-1015 (U.S. May 18, 2009).
Mr. Iqbal
Plaintiffs alleged disparagement of Native Americans.
In 1994, seven Native Americans won an order that voided six "Redskins" trademarks. The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (a unit within the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) ruled that the marks held up "a substantial segment of the population" to "public ridicule".
Pro Football, Inc., the owner of the