United States Supreme Court (7 summaries)
Shelby County v. Holder
Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973 et seq., is unconstitutional and its formula can no longer be used for subjecting jurisdictions to pre-clearance.
Area(s) of Law:- Constitutional Law
Vance v. Ball State University
Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 a “supervisor” is a person that has the power to take “tangible employment action” against the harassment victim.
Area(s) of Law:- Employment Law
Hillman v. Maretta
"The Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance Act (FEGLIA), which establishes a life insurance program for federal employees, allows an employee to designate a beneficiary to receive the proceeds of the policy when the employee dies. FEGLIA preempts a Virginia law which provides that, when a married couple is divorced, the divorced spouses are no longer the beneficiaries of each other’s life insurance policies."
Area(s) of Law:- Preemption
City of Arlington v. FCC
Courts must apply the Chevron framework to an agency interpretation of a statutory ambiguity that concerns the scope of the agency’s statutory authority.
Area(s) of Law:- Administrative Law
U.S. Airways, Inc. v. McCutchen
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) does not authorize courts to use equitable principles to rewrite contractual language.
Area(s) of Law:- Employment Law
Smith v. United States
A defendant—not the government—has the burden of proving withdrawal from a conspiracy.
Area(s) of Law:- Criminal Law
Astrue v. Capato
Posthumously conceived biological children are entitled to Social Security survivor’s benefits only if they could inherit from the deceased under state intestacy law or meet another statutory alternative.
Area(s) of Law:- Administrative Law
United States Supreme Court Certiorari Granted (10 summaries)
Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus
(1) Whether, to challenge a speech-suppressive law, a party must prove that authorities would certainly and successfully prosecute or should the court presume that a credible threat of prosecution exists; and (2) whether the state laws proscribing “false” political speech are subject to pre-enforcement First Amendment review.
Area(s) of Law:- Constitutional Law
Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.
(1) Whether The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA) permits a for-profit corporation to deny employees health coverage for contraceptives which the employees are otherwise entitled by federal law; and(2) whether application of the contraceptive-coverage mandate of the Affordable Care Act violates free exercise rights.
Area(s) of Law:- Constitutional Law
Abramski v. United States
Whether a gun buyer’s intent to sell a firearm to another lawful buyer in the future is a fact “material to the lawfulness of the sale” of the firearm under 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(6); and (2) whether a gun buyer’s intent to sell a firearm to another lawful buyer in the future is a piece of information “required . . . to be kept” by a federally licensed firearm dealer under Section 924(a)(1)(A).
Area(s) of Law:- Criminal Law
Air Wisconsin Airlines Corp. v. Hoeper
Whether the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) gives immunity without a determination that an air carrier's disclosure was materially false.
Area(s) of Law:- Civil Law
Oxford Health Plans, LLC v. Sutter
Whether an arbitrator acts within his powers under the Federal Arbitration Act or exceeds those powers when allowing class arbitration based solely on parties’ use of broad contractual language in an arbitration agreement.
Area(s) of Law:- Arbitration
Boyer v. Louisiana
Whether a five-year delay due to a state funding crisis for indigent defendants counts against the state for speedy trial purposes.
Area(s) of Law:- Constitutional Law
US Airways, Inc. v. McCutchen
Whether § 502(a)(3) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) authorizes courts to use equitable principles to rewrite contractual language and refuse to order participants to reimburse their plan for benefits paid even when the plan’s terms give it an absolute right to full reimbursement.
Area(s) of Law:- Employment Law
Smith v. United States
Whether the defendant bears the burden of proving withdrawal from a conspiracy or whether the burden shifts to the government once the defendant meets the burden of production to show withdrawal from the conspiracy.
Area(s) of Law:- Criminal Law
Sandifer v. United States Steel Corp.
Whether donning and doffing safety clothing falls within the meaning of “changing clothes” in Section 203(o) of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Area(s) of Law:- Employment Law
Sandifer v. United States Steel Corp.
Whether donning and doffing safety clothing falls within the meaning of “changing clothes” in Section 203(o) of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Area(s) of Law:- Employment Law