Supreme Court of the United States

QUESTION PRESENTED: 

When the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) denies a patent application, the Patent Act gives the unsuccessful applicant two avenues for seeking judicial review of the agency's decision. The applicant may appeal directly to the Federal Circuit, 35 U.S.C. 141, which "shall review the decision from which an appeal is taken on the record before the [USPTO],” 35 U.S.C. 144. Alternatively, the...

QUESTION PRESENTED: 

Whether the Fourteenth Amendment fully incorporates the Sixth Amendment guarantee of a unanimous verdict?

THE MOTION OF PETITIONER FOR APPOINTMENT OF COUNSEL IS GRANTED, AND G. BEN COHEN, ESQ., OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, IS APPOINTED TO SERVE AS COUNSEL FOR PETITIONER IN THIS CASE.

Argument Transcript: https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2019/18-5924_4gcj.pdf

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QUESTION PRESENTED: 

Whether discrimination against an employee because of sexual orientation constitutes prohibited employment discrimination "because of... sex" within the meaning of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42U.S.C. § 2000e-2.

CONSOLIDATED WITH 17-1623 FOR ONE HOUR ORAL ARGUMENT.

Argument Transcript: https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2019/17-1618_7k47.pdf

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QUESTION PRESENTED: 

Whether the word "sex" in Title VII's prohibition on discrimination "because of ... sex," 42 U.S.C. 2000e-2(a)(l), meant "gender identity" and included "transgender status" when Congress enacted Title VII in 1964. 

Whether Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, 490 U.S. 228 (1989), prohibits employers from applying sex-specific policies according to their employees' sex rather than ...

QUESTION PRESENTED:

Whether the Appointments Clause governs the appointment of members of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico.

CONSOLIDATED WITH 18-1475, 18-1496, 18-1514 AND 18-1521, AND WILL BE SET FOR ARGUMENT IN THE SECOND WEEK OF THE OCTOBER 2019 ARGUMENT SESSION.

Argument Transcript: https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2019/18-1334_dc8f.pdf

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QUESTION PRESENTED:

In 1986, Congress enacted the Immigration Reform and Control Act CIRCA (IRCA). IRCA made it illegal to employ unauthorized aliens, established an employment eligibility verification system, and created various civil and criminal penalties against employers who violate the law. 8 U.S.C. § 1324a. Regulations implementing IRCA created a "Form I-9" that employers are required to have all prospective employee...

QUESTION PRESENTED:

Whether the "discovery rule" applies to toll the one (1) year statute of limitations under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1692, et seq., as the Fourth and Ninth Circuits have held but the Third Circuit (sua sponte en banc) has held contrarily.

Argument Transcript: https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2019/18-328_l6gn.pdf

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QUESTION PRESENTED:

In Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), this Court held that "mandatory life without parole for those under the age of 18 at the time of their crimes violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on 'cruel and unusual punishments.'" Id. at 465. Four years later, in Montgomery v. Louisiana, 136 S. Ct. 718 (2016), the Court held that "Miller announced a substantive rule of constitutional l...

QUESTION PRESENTED:

In the Clean Water Act (CWA), Congress differentiated between point source and nonpoint source pollution in controlling pollution of navigable waters. The CWA regulates point source pollution through permits, while nonpoint source pollution is controlled through federal oversight of state management programs and other non-CWA programs. 

This Court and several courts of appeals have read the CWA's line dividi...

QUESTION PRESENTED:

Whether Congress validly abrogated state sovereign immunity via the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act, Pub. L. No. 101-553, 104 Stat. 2749 (1990), in providing remedies for authors of original expression whose federal copyrights are infringed by States.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2019/18-877_6jfm.pdf

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QUESTION PRESENTED:

Whether under federal maritime law a safe berth clause in a voyage charter contract is a guarantee of a ship's safety, as the Third Circuit below and the Second Circuit have held, or a duty of due diligence, as the Fifth Circuit has held.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2019/18-565_aplc.pdf

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QUESTION PRESENTED:

A Kansas officer ran a registration check on a pickup truck and learned that the registered owner's license had been revoked. Suspecting that the owner was unlawfully driving, the officer stopped the truck, confirmed that the owner was driving, and issued the owner a citation for being a habitual violator of Kansas traffic laws. The Kansas Supreme Court, breaking with 12 state supreme courts and 4 federal ci...

QUESTION PRESENTED:

In Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer, this Court unanimously held that to state a claim under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA''), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq., for breach of the fiduciary duty of prudence based on inside information, a plaintiff must "plausibly allege[] that a prudent fiduciary in the defendant's position could not have concluded that [an alternative...

QUESTION PRESENTED:

This dispute concerns the policy of immigration enforcement discretion known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). In 2016, this Court affirmed, by an equally divided Court, a decision of the Fifth Circuit holding that two related Department of Homeland Security (DHS) discretionary enforcement policies, including an expansion of the DACA policy, were likely unlawful and should be enjoined. See United...

QUESTION PRESENTED:

Whether, when plaintiffs plausibly allege that a rogue federal law enforcement officer violated clearly established Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights for which there is no alternative legal remedy, the federal courts can and should recognize a damages claim under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Fed. Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971)?

If not, whether the Westfall Act violates the Due Process Claus...

QUESTION PRESENTED:

Entertainment Studios Networks ("ESN") owns several television networks that it sought to have carried on Comcast's cable system. Comcast and ESN met multiple times to discuss a potential deal, but Comcast ultimately declined to carry ESN's networks. ESN's response was to sue Comcast, claiming that Comcast's decision was based on an outlandish racist conspiracy between Comcast, the NAACP,...

QUESTION PRESENTED:

Whether an order denying a motion for relief from the automatic stay is a final order under 28 U.S.C. § 158(a) (1). In diverting from this Court's prior precedent, and in conflict with the First and Third Circuit Courts of Appeal, the Sixth Circuit ruled that an order denying relief from the automatic stay is per se final.

Argument Transcript: https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/...

PRESENTED QUESTION:

New York City prohibits its residents from possessing a handgun without a license, and the only license the City makes available to most residents allows its holder to possess her handgun only in her home or en route to one of seven shooting ranges within the city. The City thus bans its residents from transporting a handgun to any place outside city limits-even if the handgun is unloaded and locked in a contain...