“Professional Honor Student”

Photo: Getty ImagesOn Tuesday, President Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award given to a civilian in the United States, to twelve remarkable individuals who have excelled in fields ranging from grassroots activism to government service, music, literature, medicine, and even space exploration. The honoree list included such heavyweights as Toni Morrison, Bob Dylan, Juliette Gordon Low, Dolores Huerta, and the third-longest sitting Supreme Court justice in U.S history, Justice John Paul Stevens.Introducing Justice Stevens, Obama cited his “clear and graceful manner...

Read more »

Citizens United II?

Just as summer is replete with movie sequels, the Supreme Court is set to kick the season off by deciding whether or not to hear a case that could become Citizens United II.On June 14, the U.S. Supreme Court will confer about whether American Tradition Partnership v. Bullock, a campaign finance case that the Montana Supreme Court decided last year, should move forward and be argued before the Roberts Court.Unlike the 2002 McCain-Feingold Act restrictions at issue in Citizens United, this case is based on a 100-year-old Montana law that was passed in response to rampant political corruption in...

Read more »

The Disingenuous Defense of Forced Arbitration

Andrew Pincus argued before the Supreme Court that corporations should be able to immunize themselves from class actions...and won.In AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, the Court ruled that corporations can impose arbitration processes on aggrieved customers and deny them the ability to bring class actions. Re-writing an 86-year-old federal statute, the five conservative justices ruled that AT&T could advertise “free” cell phones to lure consumers and then charge them a surprise $30 sales tax without being susceptible to suit, thanks to fine print in the “take-it-or-leave-it” contract that...

Read more »

One Year Later: The Consequences of Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting

In the two years since Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law SB 1070, the state’s far-reaching and controversial immigration bill, numerous states have produced copycat versions of the legislation. While many of these bills have stalled or failed, others have become law and later been challenged in court by the Department of Justice, immigrant rights groups, and representatives of the affected communities. The DOJ’s challenge to SB 1070, in Arizona v. United States, was the first of these cases to reach the Supreme Court, with oral arguments held in April and a decision expected in June....

Read more »

Corporate Court Gives Thumbs Up to Mortgage Scam

Today the Supreme Court issued its decision in Freeman v. Quicken Loans (.pdf download), holding unanimously that the statute in question does not prohibit mortgage lenders from charging “unearned fees” – that is, charging fees for services never rendered. As a result of the Court’s decision in Freeman, mortgage lenders can essentially “cheat” homebuyers out of hundreds or thousands of dollars without giving them anything in return. It remains to be seen how Freeman could also impact a host of other consumer protection laws.The case arises from a group of lawsuits out of Louisiana in which borrowers,...

Read more »

Constituent Day for “Mayor Franks”

By Greta Foster and Jonathan Silberman On Wednesday, May 23rd DC Vote, an educational and advocacy organization, held “DC Constituent Service Day” to protest the recent attacks on DC home rule. Last week, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) presided over a hearing regarding his bill (HR 3803 “District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act”), which would ban abortions in the District of Columbia after 20 weeks of pregnancy unless the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother. The bill, which also features a companion in the Senate, has 196 co-sponsors.Although hearings regarding social issues...

Read more »

A Great and Extraordinary Occasion: Amending the Constitution after Citizens United

James Madison famously wrote that amending the Constitution should always be possible, but reserved only “for certain great and extraordinary occasions.” Yesterday Alliance for Justice hosted a provocative and engaging panel discussion about how to mitigate the impact of the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC.  Moderated by Nation contributor Ilyse Hogue, “To Amend or Not To Amend: The Impact of Citizens United” featured Maryland State Sen. Jamie Raskin, Boston College Law School Professor Kent Greenfield and Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Mark Schmitt in an absorbing...

Read more »

Confirm Paul Watford to the Ninth Circuit!

UPDATE: This alert is no longer active. Paul Watford was confirmed by a vote of 61-34. All Senate Democrats voted for confirmation, as did Republican Senators Lamar Alexander, Scott Brown, Susan Collins, Lindsay Graham, Dick Lugar, John McCain, Lisa Murkowski, and Olympia Snowe.Paul Watford was nominated last fall to an "emergency" vacancy on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. An uncontroversial, mainstream candidate, he has attracted support from across the political spectrum and been given the highest possible qualification rating by the nonpartisan American Bar Association.Some Republicans...

Read more »

Awaiting the Court’s Decisions in Two Mortgage Scam Cases

Among the cases on the Corporate Court docket that have yet to be decided are two that deal with interpretations of the Real Estate Procedures Act of 1974 (“RESPA”), which was enacted to prevent abuses in the mortgage industry. At stake in both cases is the protection of home buyers from unscrupulous title insurance and mortgage companies. Both cases could also have broader implications for a host of consumer protection laws and other types of regulation.In First American Financial Corp. v. Edwards, the question is whether RESPA allows individual plaintiffs to recover charges for title insurance...

Read more »

A Victory for Voting Rights

The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled today that section 5 of the Voting Rights Act remains constitutional. The case, Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, is an important victory for advocates of fair voting practices. In siding with the attorney general, the court eloquently and powerfully bolstered the rights of Shelby County citizens to vote in elections free from racial discrimination. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, originally passed in 1965 and reauthorized in 1970, 1975, 1982, and 2006, requires six states and numerous local jurisdictions to seek “preclearance” for any changes...

Read more »

Corporations Force Arbitration on Consumers, but Opt Out for Themselves

The New York Times recently published an article on the ramifications of AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion during the one year since the Supreme Court issued its decision. Drawing on a recent report recent report (.pdf download) issued by Public Citizen and the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the article noted that:since Concepcion, judges had cited the decision at least 76 times as a reason to prevent potential class-action lawsuits from moving ahead. In some of those cases, the judges made clear that they were ruling against the plaintiffs through gritted teeth, explaining that Concepcion...

Read more »

National Law Journal shines light on obscure part of nominations process

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 has documented the unprecedented obstruction of President Obama's judicial...

Read more »

To Amend or Not to Amend: The Impact of Citizens United

Next Tuesday, Alliance for Justice will host a dynamic panel discussion about 2010’s Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision and its lasting effects on politics and public policy. The panel will present possible solutions to the corrupting influence of big money in politics, ranging from proposed constitutional amendments and work on judicial nominations to public funding for elections and litigation strategies. If you're in the Washington, DC area, we invite you to join us for this special event. It's free and open to the public, but RSVPs are required.Click here to reserve your seat."To...

Read more »

A Turning Point at the White House

Community leaders met with key White House staff, includingAttorney General Eric HolderMay 7 marked an important milestone in the fight to confirm President Obama’s nominees to the federal courts. Alliance for Justice and our national partners in the ongoing judicial nominations battle played a central role in organizing a White House briefing attended by 150 community and legal leaders from 27 states around the country. This remarkably diverse group of national, state, and local activists, all of whom have been engaged in the fight to nominate and confirm judges who share our values, went to...

Read more »

AFJ President Nan Aron on MSNBC

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); })(); Last night, AFJ President Nan Aron appeared on the Rachel Maddow show to lay out the state...

Read more »

Three Judges Confirmed by the Senate

The Senate has confirmed three new judges to the federal bench: Jacqueline Nguyen to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Kristine Baker to the Eastern District of Arkansas, and John Lee to the Northern District of Illinois. Nguyen received an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 91-3. Baker and Lee were confirmed on voice votes.  All three judges are filling seats that have been designated as emergency vacancies, meaning there are not enough judges in the courts to hear the cases coming before them in a timely manner. Republican intransigence at every step of the nominations process has caused...

Read more »

AFJ Joins Community and National Leaders in Urging an End to Obstruction of 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); })(); On a day marked by the formal end of the deal struck between Senate Democrats and Republicans...

Read more »

The Strategy Behind Judicial Obstruction

Three federal judges will receive confirmation votes today, marking the end of a March deal struck by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to hold confirmation votes on 14 judicial nominees. All 14 of the judges in the deal were named by President Obama in 2011; all 14 could have—and should have—been confirmed last year. If all three receive majority votes, they will bring the total number of the president’s confirmed circuit and district court judges to 143. This figure is considerably lower than those of his two predecessors on the same...

Read more »

Coverage of AFJ's State of the Judiciary Report

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); })(); This weekend, MSNBC host Chris Hayes and The Atlantic correspondent James Fallows highlighted...

Read more »

First Circuit says PLIVA v. Mensing Does Not Apply to Design Defect Claims

On Wednesday, the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld a $21 million verdict awarded to a woman who suffered grievous injuries as a result of taking a generic pain medication prescribed by her doctor. In its appeal to the First Circuit, the generic drug manufacturer, Mutual Pharmaceutical Company, argued that the design defect claims were preempted by the Hatch-Waxman Amendments to the Federal, Drug, and Cosmestic Act (“FDCA”) under the Supreme Court’s 2011 decision PLIVA v. Mensing.In its opinion rejecting that argument, the First Circuit noted that the Supreme Court’s reasoning in...

Read more »

Community Leaders from Across the Country Head to the White House

Next Monday, May 7, 150 community leaders from 27 states will travel to Washington to meet with White House officials about the vacancy crisis in America’s federal courts. Nearly one out of every ten federal judgeships remains vacant, and more than 250 million Americans live in a community with a courtroom vacancy. A deal between Senate Republicans and Democrats to allow judicial nominations to proceed in the Senate expires May 7th, and the community leaders are urging the Senate to hold final up-or-down votes on all pending nominees.After the White House meeting, the community leaders will visit...

Read more »

A Look Ahead: The Last Decisions of the Supreme Court's Term

Last week the Supreme Court heard the final oral argument of the term in Arizona v. United States. With little more than two months left until the term officially ends, let’s take a brief look at the cases on the Corporate Court docket in which decisions remain outstanding.In Christopher v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., the Court will decide whether courts should defer to the Secretary of Labor’s interpretation of “outside salesman” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), and whether the FLSA’s “outside sales” exemption applies to pharmaceutical sales representatives. During the oral argument...

Read more »