Federal Judiciary

Health benefits appeal opposed

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

City officials in San Francisco on Friday urged the Supreme Court not to interrupt a local law that requires employers to provide minimum health care benefits to their workers.  The program has been in effect for 15 months, and there is no sign that any business is being harmed by it, the officials said in a new filing in Golden Gate Restaurant Association v. San Francisco, in response to a stay application (08A824) by restaurant operators.  The application is before Justice Anthony M. Kennedy as Circuit Justice; it is up to him to decide the stay issue himself or to refer it to his colleagues for action.

The response argued that the underlying legal dispute does not warrant the Court’s attention, noting that lower courts are not split on the issue and that there has been no effort by other local governments to follow San Francisco’s lead.  (The response is available here. A post discussing the Restaurant Association challenge and its plea to Justice Kennedy can be read here.)

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on March 27, 2009 (boomark / email).