Senate Democrats took to the Senate floor today to call out Republicans’ continuing efforts to delay the confirmation of qualified, consensus judicial nominees in the face of a longstanding judicial vacancy crisis. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)Today, partisanship has stalled even the most uncontroversial judicial appointments. Senate Republicans allowed no nominees to be confirmed at the end of the last session, and have allowed but five so far this year. In this environment, even those reported out of committee by voice vote, without any controversy, are unable to receive a floor...
Court Set to Hear Human Rights and Corporate Accountability Case
On Tuesday, February 28, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case of Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum. At stake is whether corporations can be held liable for participating in the commission of human rights violations under the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”). In this case, multinational oil companies are alleged to have aided and abetted human rights atrocities committed against environmental activists by the Nigerian military, for which victims and victims’ surviving family members now seek compensation. Today Alliance for Justice is releasing an in-depth report on Kiobel. As the report...
Senators need to stand up
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action alerts
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judicial selection
Supreme Court Issues Decision in Important Access to Justice Case
Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Douglas v. Independent Living Center of Southern California, deciding 5-4 to vacate the Ninth Circuit’s decision and remand the case for further consideration “in light of the changed circumstances.” The Court did not resolve the central issue of whether individuals may use the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution to sue the state of California for adopting Medicaid laws that allegedly deny care to certain individuals in violation of the federal Medicaid statute.The consolidated Douglas cases arose from California’s decision to issue cuts...
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douglas v. independent living
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ninth circuit
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supreme court
Senate to Vote Monday on Margo Brodie’s Nomination to the Eastern District of New York
When the Senate returns from its Presidents’ Day recess next Monday it will vote on the nomination of Margo Kitsy Brodie to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Brodie was nominated to the seat on June 7, 2011. A graduate of St. Francis College and of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, Brodie has served for thirteen years as an Assistant United States Attorney. She is currently the Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, with prior service as Counselor to the Criminal Division and as Chief and Deputy Chief of the General Crimes...
John Roberts on Mandatory Ethics Rules: Thanks, But No Thanks
by Nan AronYesterday, Chief Justice John Roberts told Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and the American people that the Supreme Court of the United States, apparently alone among all institutions of American government, doesn't need formally binding ethics rules and has no intention of adopting any. In a terse statement, the Chief Justice flatly rejected a recommendation by Chairman Leahy and Senators Durbin, Whitehouse, Franken, and Blumenthal that the Court voluntarily, explicitly, and formally adopt the same Code of Conduct that governs every other federal judge.All federal...
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ethics
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supreme court
Corporate Court Favors Forced Arbitration. Again.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court handed down its decision (.pdf download) in Marmet Health Care Center v. Brown and a consolidated case, ruling once again that everyday Americans may be barred from court and forced into arbitration by the corporations that have caused their injuries.In these consolidated cases, three patients died allegedly due to the negligence of their West Virginia nursing homes. Surviving family members patients attempted to bring suit in state court, although the patients had signed contracts with the nursing homes that included forced arbitration provisions. The plaintiffs...
The Corporate Court: Making New Laws from Thin Air
The Roberts Court's troubling pro-business bias has long been evident in the cases it chooses to hear and in the decisions it renders. But one aspect of the Court's tendency to overreach in favor of corporate interests is its penchant for crafting new laws out of thin air, without the apparent need to do so.For example, the dispute in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion arose after AT&T offered customers a "free" phone but charged a sales tax of up to $30. When customers discovered the scheme and asserted their rights in court, AT&T sought to enforce a contract provision banning class actions...
No Corporate Exemption: Supreme Court to Hear Major Corporate Human Rights Case
Guest post by Tyler Giannini & Susan FarbsteinNext Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. Kiobel is the most important human rights case the Court will consider this term, raising fundamental questions about corporate accountability. The Plaintiffs allege that Royal Dutch/Shell was complicit in the Nigerian government’s torture and killing of their relatives in the 1990s. The Supreme Court is reviewing a lower court decision that created a corporate exemption from liability under the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”), concluding...
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kiobel v. royal dutch petroleum
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supreme court
Mind your own business, Senator Lee
Two judicial nominees in West Virginia have fallen victim to the knee-jerk obstruction of a senator from thousands of miles away.In an op-ed for the Charleston Gazette, AFJ President Nan Aron takes a look at the nominees and the senator standing in their way:I'm willing to bet that people in West Virginia, like most Americans, have never heard of Mike Lee. He's the junior U.S. Senator from Utah, and has been in office for all of two years. Yet, he has decided all by himself that West Virginia can't have new federal judges.He's mad at President Obama, so he's throwing a legislative fit and has...
By the Numbers
This week saw significant action on the judicial nominations front. Boiling what took place down to the basic numbers, there were:4 new nominations, bringing the number of pending nominees to 424 nominees who had hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee: 1 Circuit Court nominee and 3 District Court nominees4 nominees reported out of Committee to the Senate floor, bringing the number of nominees awaiting their final confirmation votes to 202 nominees confirmed: Adalberto José Jordán to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and Jesse M. Furman to the United States District Court for the Southern...
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judicial selection
Mid-Term Roundup
With the Corporate Court halfway through its 2011-2012 term, we take this opportunity to look back at the opinions that it has issued so far. The Court’s less tendentious rulings tend to be released before the more closely divided ones, so it is unsurprising that all of these cases were decided 9-0 or 8-1. However, the Corporate Court’s unanimity aside, four of these holdings spell bad news for everyday Americans, while two go against corporate interests, and the implications of a final decision remain to be seen.First, the bad news.In Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC,...
Obama Nominates Four to Fill Judicial Vacancies
Thursday evening, President Obama sent four new names to the Senate to fill judicial vacancies. He nominated Jill A. Pryor to a seat on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. A graduate of the College of William and Mary and of Yale Law School, and a former clerk for 11th Circuit Judge J.L. Edmondson, Pryor is currently a partner at the law firm of Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, LLP, in Atlanta, Georgia. If confirmed, she will be the fourth woman to serve on the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. The seat to which Pryor has been nominated has been vacant since August 2010 and has been declared...
Senate Judiciary Committee Reports Four Nominees to the Floor, Holds Hearing on Four Nominees
This morning the Senate Judiciary Committee reported four United States District Court nominees to the Senate floor, where they now await their final confirmation votes.The nominations of John Lee to the Northern District of Illinois, John Tharp, Jr. to the Northern District of Illinois, George Russell III to the District of Maryland, and Kristine Baker to the Eastern District of Arkansas were reported out on a voice vote with overwhelming bipartisan support from the committee members. Only Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) -- who has pledged knee-jerk opposition to every single nominee -- opposed the...
Will the Court Strip RESPA of All Mechanisms for Consumer Enforcement?
Thoughts on Freeman v. Quicken Loans and First American Financial Corp. v. EdwardsGuest post by Kevin K. RussellAnyone who has ever gone to a closing on a house has confronted the often bewildering set of fees charged by banks, title companies and others, in order to finalize the purchase and obtain a mortgage. On Tuesday, February 21, the Supreme Court will consider whether the federal law that regulates these closings – the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) – is violated when a company charges a fee at closing for a service it never actually performed.The plaintiffs in the...
Senate to vote on Jordan at noon
Judge Adalberto Jordán, nominee to sit on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, is finally due to receive his Senate confirmation vote at noon today. The 11th Circuit covers the states of Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama.If confirmed, Jordán will be the first Cuban-born American to sit on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Jordán was nominated on August 2, 2011 to fill the 11th Circuit seat left vacant after Judge Susan H. Black took senior status in February. A sitting federal judge for the Southern District of Florida, Jordán was selected and nominated by President Obama with bipartisan...
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11th circuit
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judicial emergencies
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judicial selection
The three judges of Perry v. Brown
Last week's landmark decision on marriage equality in California was made by a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Much has been written about the legal positions and implications, but less has been said about the judges whose deliberations and opinions grabbed the headlines.Here is some background information on the three-judge panel.Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt, who authored the decision, was appointed to the Ninth Circuit in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. He was confirmed to the seat on September 11, 1980. Judge Reinhardt is a graduate of Pomona College (1951)...
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ninth circuit
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perry v. brown
Dean Chemerinsky Highlights New Challenges for Civil Rights Litigants
In a recent ABA Journal article, UC Irvine Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky argues that two generally overlooked cases this term could have broad implications for civil rights litigants’ access to justice. Chemerinsky discusses Minneci v. Pollard and Ryburn v. Huff, arguing that “each reflects a significant, though unstated, change in the law.” In Minneci, the Court held that employees of a privately-run federal prison cannot be held liable in federal court for constitutional violations because state tort law provides adequate remedies. Chemerinsky writes, “[F]or the first time, the court has said...
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civil justice
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minneci v. pollard
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ryburn v. huff
The Proposition 8 ruling: How did we get here?
Advocates working to restore the rights of same-sex couples to marry in California won an important victory this week when a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit found that Proposition 8, an amendment to California's constitution that banned gay marriages, violates the U.S. Constitution.Like many civil rights battles, the path to this victory has been a long one, and we thought it might be helpful to share this brief timeline of the legal battle over Proposition 8:March 7, 2000 – California voters approved Proposition 22, which amended state law to bar the recognition of same-sex marriages.February...
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marriage equality
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ninth circuit
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proposition 8
Upcoming cases: Accountability and the law of nations
On February 28, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. and a companion case, Mohamad v. Palestinian Authority. In Kiobel, the Court will consider whether corporations may be held liable for torts that violate the law of nations, such as torture, murder, and genocide, under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). In Mohamad, the Court will consider the parallel liability of organizations under the 1991 Torture Victim Protection Act (“TVPA”). The ATS, which was enacted by the first Congress in 1789, establishes jurisdiction for torts “committed in violation of the...
Upcoming case: Can consumers sue mortgage lenders for unearned fees?
On February 21, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Freeman v. Quicken Loans, in which the right of consumers to sue mortgage lenders for unearned fees is at stake. The question for the Supreme Court is how to interpret the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), which prohibits kickbacks and other abuses in the mortgage industry. The borrowers argue that RESPA was intended to forbid both kickbacks and unearned fees, regardless of whether a third party was involved in the improper fee arrangement. Quicken argues that the law only prohibits lenders from receiving an unearned...
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freeman v. quicken loans
Bencivengo confirmed to Southern District of California
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A record of obstruction
Alliance for Justice recently released a report on the state of the judiciary during the first three years of the Obama administration. In the report, we examined the historic obstruction of President Obama's nominees by Senate Republicans.The Senate has confirmed far fewer nominees at this point in President Obama’s first term than it had confirmed for his two predecessors in office. Specifically, he trails President Bush by 47 confirmations and President Clinton by 56 confirmations.President Bush and President Clinton had approximately 200 confirmed nominees at the end of their first terms,...
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judicial selection
4 Nominees Scheduled for Consideration Today
var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-2327420-4']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider 4 District Court nominees today:Kristine...
106 Vacancies
With the resignation of United States District Court Judge Richard Holwell (SD NY) this week, there are now 106 current and future vacancies in the federal court system, 33 of which are considered judicial emergencies. Nominees have been named for 41 of those vacancies. Nineteen of these seats could be filled immediately if the Senate would agree to hold simple up or down votes on the nominees who have been voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee—17 of them either unanimously or with overwhelming bipartisan suppor...
President Obama Nominates Rose, Shea
President Obama yesterday nominated Stephanie Marie Rose to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, and Michael Shea to the United States District Court of Connecticut.Ms. Rose is currently the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa; she has been appointed to fill a seat that will become vacant in July when incumbent Judge Robert W. Pratt takes senior status. Mr. Shea is in private practice at Day Pitney LLP in Hartford, CT; he has been appointed to fill the seat vacated on November 28, 2011 when Judge Christopher Droney, who previously held the seat,...
Disappearing Cases
Guest post by Paul BlandThis probably won’t shock you: five members of the U.S. Supreme Court really like mandatory arbitration.Over the last few decades, the most important cases pertaining to arbitration heard by the Court have been decided 5-4 — with the dissenting four dissenting strongly.“Mandatory arbitration” sounds complex, but it’s straightforward enough: instead of taking a company that has harmed you to court (filing a lawsuit), you are required to pursue your grievance in arbitration.Straightforward, yes. Harmless, not in the least. Arbitrations take place in front of an arbitrator,...
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arbitration
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att mobility v. conception
Age of Obama's Judicial Nominees
var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-2327420-4']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Alliance for Justice recently released a report on the state of the judiciary during the...
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judicial nominees
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judicial selection
Judiciary Committee Reports Paul Watford to Senate Floor
This morning the Senate Judiciary Committee reported 9th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Paul Watford to the Senate floor in a vote of 10-6 along party lines, with two Republican senators (Jon Kyl and Lindsey Graham) voting “Present.” California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein gave a statement in support of Mr. Watford, praising his legal record and highlighting his bipartisan support. Watford’s nomination is supported by Jeremy Rosen, head of the California Branch of the Federalist Society, conservative Chief Justice of the 9th Circuit Alex Kozinksi, and the CEOs of Verizon, Mattel,...
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judicial emergencies
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judicial selection
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ninth circuit