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Petitions to watch | Conference of 11.05.10

By Christa Culver

This edition of ?Petitions to watch? features cases up for consideration at the Justices? November 5 conference.  These are petitions raising issues that Tom has determined have a reasonable chance of being granted, although we post them here without consideration of whether they present appropriate vehicles in which to decide those issues.

Title: Ryan v. Robinson
Docket: 10-34
Issue(s): (1) Whether a state prisoner fairly presents his federal claim when he changes the legal theory of the federal claim he presented in state court; and (2) whether the opinion below created a new requirement, contrary to Supreme Court precedent, that triers of fact in capital cases must give weight to any proffered mitigation.

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Opinion below (9th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition (forthcoming)

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The following petitions have been re-listed for the conference of November 5.  If any other paid petitions are re-distributed for this conference, we will add them below as soon as their re-distribution is noted on the docket.

DISCLOSURE: Akin Gump represents one of the parties in the case below; the case is listed here without regard to its chance of being granted.

Title: National Football League v. Williams
Docket: 09-1380
Issue(s): Whether, when federal subject matter jurisdiction is not in question, defenses that require analysis of a collective-bargaining agreement may substantively preempt state-law claims under Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, or whether such defenses are instead categorically irrelevant to preemption analysis.

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Opinion below (8th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Amicus brief of Major League Baseball et al.
• Petitioner's reply

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Title: Beer v. United States
Docket: 09-1395
Issue(s): Whether the Compensation Clause of Article III prevents Congress from withholding the future judicial salary adjustments established by the Ethics Reform Act of 1989.

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioners' reply
• Amicus brief of Bar Associations
• Amicus brief of the American Bar Association
• Amicus brief of International Municipal Lawyers Association
• Amicus brief of Federal Judges Association
• Denial of rehearing en banc (Federal Circuit)
• Summary affirmance (Federal Circuit)

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Title: Alderman v. United States
Docket: 09-1555
Issue(s): Whether Scarborough v. United States (1977) recognizes a distinct Commerce Clause authority, beyond the three categories recognized in United States v. Lopez (1995), United States v. Morrison (2000), and Gonzales v. Raich (2005), such that a federal statute which ?cannot be justified as a regulation of the channels of commerce, as a protection of the instrumentalities of commerce, or as a regulation of intrastate activity that substantially affects interstate commerce,? may be sustained based on a ?minimal nexus? between the activity regulated and interstate commerce.

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Opinion below (9th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioner's reply

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Title: Allen v. Lawhorn
Docket: 10-24
Issue(s): Whether a state court?s determination that trial counsel?s waiver of a penalty-phase closing argument did not prejudice the defendant is ?contrary to? Supreme Court precedent.

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Opinion below (11th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioners? reply

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Title: Wilson v. Corcoran
Docket: 10-91
Issue(s): Whether a state capital defendant has a constitutional right to a sentencing decision that is not informed by facts that are neither elements of his crime or aggravated circumstances authorized by statute, and, if so, whether a federal court may grant habeas relief based on its own finding that the state trial court improperly considered non-statutory factors when imposing its sentence.

Certiorari-Stage Documents:

• Opinion below (7th Circuit)
• Petition for certiorari
• Brief in opposition
• Petitioner's reply

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Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on November 04, 2010 (boomark / email).