FedSoc Forums

In Groff v. Dejoy the Court was set to address two issues concerning the protections provided employees who seek to practice their religious beliefs in the context of the workplace. The Court was considering whether to overrule the “more-than-de-minimis-cost” test for refusing religious accommodations under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 established in Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hard...

Gonzalez v. Trevino involves an alleged retaliatory conspiracy of city officials from Castle Hills, Texas to arrest Sylvia Gonzalez—a 72-year-old councilwoman—for spearheading a nonbinding petition criticizing the city’s manager. Gonzalez acknowledges that there was probable cause for her arrest and appellants asserted a qualified immunity defense. The district court denied Appellants’ motion to d...

Over the past several years, a debate has erupted within the world of indigent defense: to what degree is it appropriate or indeed vital for public defenders to be involved in political advocacy? Some contend such advocacy is outside the role and responsibility of public defenders, who should instead focus on defending their clients to the best of their ability. Others assert that involvement on s...

On November 4, 2022, the Supreme Court granted cert in Amgen Inc. v. Sanofi, a patent infringement case that involves the application of the statutory enablement requirement of Section 112 of the patent laws to what is referred to as a "genus claim" as it applies in the context of pharmaceutical applications. The two patents in dispute relate to antibody drugs that reduce low-density lipoprotein (...

As Indonesia, Somalia, Niger, and Mauritania may be next to join the Abraham Accords, what interests unify these countries on Accord agreement? What will be the impact of Saudi Arabia’s alignment with Iran? What are the balance of power dynamics for the Iran-concerned Accord countries of Israel, Bahrain, UAE? What binds signatories to the Accords as regional political pressures mount? Discussants...

In this two-for-one Teleforum, we covered two cases with questions concerning criminal law and procedure that are set to be argued before the Court. On March 28, 2023, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Smith v. United States. Two issues were presented to the Court by this case. One, whether, when there are multiple charges associated with a trial, lack of venue as to one count requires vaca...

In Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC, the Supreme Court is considering "Whether humorous use of another’s trademark as one’s own on a commercial product is subject to the Lanham Act’s traditional likelihood-of-confusion analysis, or instead receives heightened First Amendment protection from trademark-infringement claims; and (2) whether humorous use of another’s mark as one’s own...

Although a right to trial is enshrined in the American Constitution, practically the nation’s criminal justice system now resolves almost all cases through plea bargaining. This has raised many questions, including whether innocent people are effectively coerced into pleading guilty, whether similarly situated defendants are treated equally, and whether there is enough transparency to evaluate the...

In 2022, the Florida Legislature passed a bill titled the Individual Freedom Act. The bill is better known as the Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act, or the Stop WOKE Act, and it has become a cultural flashpoint across the country. The bill seeks to “protect individual freedoms and prevent discrimination in the workplace and in public schools.” While the bill explicitly authorizes “age-appr...

On Monday, March 27, 2023 the Supreme Court heard oral argument in United States v. Hansen. At issue in Hansen is whether 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv) and (B)(i), a federal criminal statute that prohibits encouraging or inducing unlawful immigration for commercial or financial benefit sometimes termed “the encouragement provision”, violates the First Amendment. Helamen Hansen operated an advising...

This case presents an intersection between Native Americans’ free exercise rights and the Government’s power to regulate its territories. In 2014, Congress enacted the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act. The Act effectuated a trade of land between Resolution Copper, a mining company, and the federal government. Resolution Copper gave the government 5,300 acres of environmentally...

Each month, a panel of constitutional experts convenes to discuss the Court’s upcoming docket sitting by sitting. The cases covered in this preview are listed below. Abitron Austria GMBH v. Hetronic Intl. Inc. (March 21) - Intellectual Property, International Law; Whether the owner of a U.S.-registered trademark can bring a lawsuit for damages for infringement overseas. Coinbase, Inc. v. Bielski (...

Along with the "crypto crackdown" by financial regulators in the wake of huge cryptocurrency losses and bankruptcies, Congress is discussing crypto legislation. The House Financial Services Committee has a new Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion chaired by Congressman French Hill (R-AR). Chairman Hill will join us for a keynote presentation, followed by an expert pan...

In 1982, the U.S. Marine Corps discovered that one quarter of the water wells on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune were contaminated with volatile organic compounds. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has estimated that as many as one million military and civilian staff and their families might have been exposed to contaminated drinking water between the early 1950s and late 1980s. Th...

President Biden has directed the Department of Education to implement a national program of blanket cancellation of federal student loans. The Department has complied by announcing two debt-cancellation programs. The first program—a plan to cancel $10,000 of loans per debtor—proceeds under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES) Act. On February 28, 2023, the Su...

In West Virginia v. EPA, the Supreme Court held that the major questions doctrine requires courts to, “expect Congress to speak clearly if it wishes to assign to an agency decisions of vast economic and political significance.” Some argue that the Court’s opinion in the case leaves doubt as to how the doctrine will be applied in future cases and how it will impact future regulatory policy. In the...

In November 2022, the District of Columbia City Council passed the Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022 (RCCA) that significantly reformed the D.C. Criminal Code to “modernize and overhaul” the District’s criminal laws including a reduction in penalties for many violent offenses. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser initially vetoed the bill citing concerns about some of the changes, but the Council overrode her...

How are we to understand scientific consensus? Who is authorized to speak on behalf of doctors and scientists as a whole, and how do those who present themselves as messengers of the majority reach their material findings? In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, these questions, and others like them, have important consequences for the future of American science and medicine. The complaint in M...

This virtual event featured a panel of current and former state solicitors general exploring and discussing how state SGs balance their duty to defend state sovereignty with different political priorities. There are some areas in which the states seem to be more on the same page (such as criminal law) and others that involve sharp disagreements among the states in terms of the duty to defend state...

February 28, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in two cases challenging the Biden Administration's Student Loans forgiveness program: Board of Education v. Brown and Biden v. Nebraska. In August 2022, the Biden Administration's Department of Education announced plans to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans for borrowers who qualified. In order to do this, the DOE relied on...

Much of global economic competition today centers around gaining market share in the semiconductor industry. Over the past decade, the Chinese Government has attempted to expand its market share across the semiconductor value chain through a complex regime of subsidies and state-owned enterprises. Beginning in the Trump Administration, the United States launched targeted export controls to restric...

On February 27, 2023, the United States Supreme Court heard Oral Argument in Dubin v. United States. At issue in the case is whether, when using (reciting, mentioning, or employing) someone else’s' name or identifying information in the committing a predicate offense, one also commits aggravated identity theft. Petitioner David Dubin was convicted of healthcare fraud for submitting a factually ina...

On February 21, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Gonzalez v. Google. After U.S. citizen Nohemi Gonzalez was killed by a terrorist attack in Paris, France, in 2015, Gonzalez’s father filed an action against Google, Twitter, and Facebook. Mr. Gonzalez claimed that Google aided and abetted international terrorism by allowing ISIS to use YouTube for recruiting and promulgating its m...

Each month, a panel of constitutional experts convenes to discuss the Court’s upcoming docket sitting by sitting. The cases covered in this episode are included below. Gonzalez v. Google (February 21) - Telecommunications; Whether Section 230(c)(1) of the Communications Decency Act allows social media companies to make targeted recommendations of information provided by another content provider, o...

Section 706 of the Administrative Procedure Act instructs courts to "set aside" agency action that is unlawful. These two words—"set aside"—have sparked much debate among lawyers, jurists, and scholars. In particular, administrative law enthusiasts disagree about whether the "set aside" language means that courts must enter universal injunctions against unlawful regulations. Some suggest that "set...