Michigan

Upcoming United States Supreme Court Term Includes Business Cases

The United States Supreme Court begins its yearly session on the first Monday in October and ends on the preceding day the following year. This year's term begins on October 6, 2008. As of the date of this blog post, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear approximately 41 cases for the 2008-09 term.

At least 16 of those cases have been identified as "business cases" by the National Chamber Litigation Center, which is the litigation arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Supreme Court usually hears around 75 cases each year, and will continue adding cases to its docket through the early part of next year.

To members of the general public, business cases aren't nearly as sexy as cases involving hot button cultural issues, but they can involve very important legal doctrines and topics. This year, one of the big issues is "pre-emption". For example, a case called Altria Group v. Good, concerns the issue of whether federal authority precludes consumers from challenging cigarette advertising in state courts. The Wyeth v. Levine case has a similar theme and concerns the tension between state vs. federal authority with respect to drug labeling.

It's always difficult to predict litigation outcomes. But, the general feeling is that the current Supreme Court is very "business friendly" under Chief Justice Roberts. Indeed, during the last two court terms, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - which represents big business interests -- has won in 21 out of 31 cases in which it's filed briefs with the Supreme Court.

However, before small businesses and entrepreneurs get too excited at that outcome, it's important to remember that the interests of small business and big business don't always correlate, and decisions favoring big business can often have negative effects on smaller operations.

Regardless, you can follow all of the action by going to the United States Supreme Court's website at http://www.supremecourtus.gov.

Full post as published by Michigan Business Lawyer Blog on October 29, 2008 (boomark / email).