Supreme Court

Justices exempt bakery-truck drivers from arbitration requirement

Justices exempt bakery-truck drivers from arbitration requirement

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The justices on Friday ruled in favor of a group of truck drivers who transport goods for Wonder Bread in their arbitration dispute. Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries Park St. is another of the court’s numerous cases interpreting the Federal Arbitration Act’s command that courts enforce mandatory pre-dispute arbitration agreements. Bissonnette involves an exception from the FAA for any “class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce,” and the question in Bissonnette  is whether that exception turns on the … Read the rest

Civil Law

The DOL Updates the QPAM Exemption from Prohibited Transaction Restrictions under ERISA (US)

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”) and the Internal Revenue Code Of 1986, as amended (“Code”) contain broad prohibitions on transactions between ERISA-covered employee benefit plans and Individual Retirement Accounts (“Plans”), as well as certain people or entities closely connected to such Plans, known as “parties in interest” or “disqualified persons”. Absent an exemption, the types of transactions that are prohibited include sales and leases or loans between a Plan and a party or parties … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Double jeopardy clause bars Georgia from retrying man acquitted by reason of insanity

Double jeopardy clause bars Georgia from retrying man acquitted by reason of insanity

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So what would you expect if a state supreme court wrote an opinion directly inconsistent with “perhaps the most fundamental rule” of the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence in the area, an opinion that would get a failing grade in any law school course on criminal law? Well, your first guess would be that the Supreme Court would unanimously reverse, and if you were bold you’d predict a short opinion assigned because of its triviality to the most junior justice. That … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Wonder Bread truck drivers seek exemption from mandatory arbitration

Wonder Bread truck drivers seek exemption from mandatory arbitration

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Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries Park St. brings the justices yet another case under a statute with which they are all too familiar – the Federal Arbitration Act. As regular readers will know, the court in the last few decades has heard numerous cases under the FAA. The great majority of those cases have involved arguments, by workers or customers, that for one reason or another courts should not enforce a pre-dispute arbitration agreement against them. And in almost all … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Student group from Harvard and UNC cases seeks to block West Point from considering race in admissions

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The same group that spearheaded lawsuits to effectively end the use of affirmative action in college admissions returned to the Supreme Court on Friday, asking the justices to temporarily bar the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, which trains officers for the U.S. Army, from considering race in its admissions process.

Students for Fair Admissions, a group founded by conservative activist Edward Blum, was at the center of the Supreme Court’s opinion last June, holding that the admissions programs … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Government power, from federal agencies to counties, highlights January session

Government power, from federal agencies to counties, highlights January session

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The justices returned to the bench on Jan. 8 for a packed session of oral arguments – starting with immigration policy and the post-9/11 “No Fly List” and ending on Jan. 17 with two cases that could upend the functional power of the federal administrative state.

Monday’s arguments began with two consolidated cases, Campos-Chaves v. Garland and Garland v. Singh, in which the court will consider what kind of notice the government must provide before a noncitizen can … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor protected us from the extremes

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor protected us from the extremes

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This tribute is part of a series on the life and work of the late Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Marci A. Hamilton is Professor of Practice in Political Science and Fox Pavilion Leadership Senior Non-Resident Fellow in the Program for Research on Religion, University of Pennsylvania.

We could use a Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the United States Supreme Court right now.  Her judgment and common sense protected the country from the extremes that have polarized this striving democracy.  That polarization … Read the rest