United States Supreme Court Certiorari Granted

Opinions Filed in January 2019

NY State Rifle & Pistol v. New York, NY

Whether New York City’s ban on transporting a licensed, locked, and unloaded handgun to a home or shooting range outside city limits is consistent with the Second Amendment, the Commerce Clause, and the constitutional right to travel.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Constitutional Law

Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media, D/B/A Argus Leader

1. Does the statutory term “confidential” in FOIA Exemption 4 bear its ordinary meaning, thus requiring the Government to withhold all “commercial or financial information” that is confidentially held and not publicly disseminated—regardless of whether a party establishes substantial competitive harm from disclosure—which would resolve at least five circuit splits? 2. Alternatively, if the Court retains the substantial competitive-harm test, is that test satisfied when the requested information could be potentially useful to a competitor (as the First and Tenth Circuits have held), or must the party opposing disclosure establish with near certainty a defined competitive harm like lost market share (as the Ninth and D.C. Circuits have held, and as the Eighth Circuit required here)?

Area(s) of Law:
  • Constitutional Law

McDonough v. Smith

Whether the statute of limitations for a Section 1983 claim based on fabrication of evidence in criminal proceedings begins to run when those proceedings terminate in the defendant's favor or whether it begins to run when the defendant becomes aware of the tainted evidence and its improper use.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Civil Rights § 1983

Mitchell v. Wisconsin

Whether a statute authorizing a blood draw from an unconscious motorist provides an exception to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Criminal Procedure

North Carolina Department of Revenue v. The Kimberly Rice Kaestner 1992 Family Trust

Whether the Due Process Clause prohibits states from taxing trusts based on trust beneficiaries’ in-state residency?

Area(s) of Law:
  • Trusts and Estates

Parker Drilling Management Services, Ltd. v. Newton

Whether, under OCSLA, state law is borrowed as the applicable federal law only when there is a gap in the coverage of federal law, as the Fifth Circuit has held, or whenever state law pertains to the subject matter of a lawsuit and is not preempted by inconsistent federal law, as the Ninth Circuit has held.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Labor Law

Quarles v. United States of America

Whether Taylor's definition of generic burglary requires proof that intent to commit a crime was present at the time of unlawful entry or first unlawful remaining, or whether it is enough that the defendant formed the intent to commit a crime at any time while “remaining in” the building or structure.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Criminal Law

Rehaif v. United States

Whether the “knowingly” provision of § 924(a)(2) applies to both the possession and status elements of a § 922(g) crime, as has been urged by then-Judge, now Justice Gorsuch, or whether it applies only to the possession element, as has been held by the courts

Area(s) of Law:
  • Criminal Law

Emulex v. Varjabedian

Whether Section 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 supports an inferred private right of action based on a negligent misstatement or omission made in connection with a tender offer.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Contract Law

Iancu v. Brunetti

Whether Section 1052(a)’s prohibition on the federal registration of “immoral” or “scandalous” marks is facially invalid under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Trademarks

Taggart v. Lorenzen

Whether, under the Bankruptcy Code, a creditor's good-faith belief that the discharge injunction does not apply precludes a finding of civil contempt.

Area(s) of Law:
  • Bankruptcy Law

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