Federal Judiciary

Engquist v. Oregon Dept. of Agriculture Decision Round-Up

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

In today’s New York Times, Linda Greenhouse offers this article on yesterday’s 6-to-3 decision in No. 07-474, Engquist v. Oregon Department of Agriculture. The Court’s decision, authored by Chief Justice Roberts, rejects the “class of one” theory of equal protection in the public employment context.

Robert Barnes’ coverage for the Washington Post is available here. The newspaper also ran this editorial, commenting that the Court acted “wisely” by barring the suits, citing the subjective nature of personnel decisions and the availability of “other robust legal tools” to ensure fair treatment.

Pete Yost’s Associated Press article detailing the decision is available here.

Finally, Balkinization contains this commentary by Deborah Hellman (”right result, wrong reason”), and the ACSBlog includes this brief post.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on June 10, 2008 (boomark / email).