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Supreme Court to hear dispute over FDA rejection of flavored vapes

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Monday in a dispute over the Food and Drug Administration’s rejection of two companies’ applications to sell flavored liquids for use in e-cigarettes. A federal appeals court in Louisiana set aside the FDA’s orders denying applications by Triton Distribution and Vapetasia, complaining that the agency had sent those companies and other makers of e-cigarette products “on a wild goose chase.”

The stakes in the case are high: Medical groups, including the … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Supreme Court to consider IRS’s claim on pre-bankruptcy tax payments

When someone makes a payment to a creditor shortly before filing for bankruptcy, the Bankruptcy Code requires the creditor to return the funds. But whether those same obligations apply to the Internal Revenue Service is less clear. On Monday, the justices will consider whether the IRS is protected by sovereign immuinity from the requirement to return funds from insolvent debtors that private creditors face.

The case, United States v. Miller, involves Section 544(b) of the Bankruptcy Code, which … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Republicans ask Supreme Court to block decision to count Pennsylvania provisional ballots

The Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania came to the Supreme Court on Monday, asking the justices to block a ruling by Pennsylvania’s highest court requiring election boards to count provisional ballots submitted by voters whose mail-in ballots had been deemed invalid.

The RNC and the Pennsylvania Republicans argue that the state supreme court had “dramatically change[d] the rules governing mail voting.” And in so doing, they contend, the state court had violated the U.S. Constitution … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Supreme Court schedules transgender rights case for December

The Supreme Court’s December argument session will feature the challenge to Tennessee’s ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors, as well as a case by survivors of the Hungarian Holocaust seeking compensation for the seizure of the property by the Hungarian government and a dispute over the Food and Drug Administration’s efforts to bar flavored e-cigarettes that are likely to appeal to young people.

The court on Friday released the calendar for the December argument session, … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Supreme Court considers truck driver’s RICO case over CBD product that cost him his job

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Tuesday in the case of a truck driver who was fired from his job after a wellness product marketed as free of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, caused him to fail a routine drug test. Douglas Horn sued the maker of the CBD product he took for chronic pain under federal racketeering law for economic harm.

But the companies that manufacture the product told the justices on Tuesday that because Horn’s … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Fourteen cases to watch from the Supreme Court’s end-of-summer “long conference”

The Relist Watch column examines cert petitions that the Supreme Court has “relisted” for its upcoming conference. A short explanation of relists is available here.

Just before the Supreme Court begins its new term on the first Monday in October, the court gathers to consider all the hundreds of cert petitions that have built up over the summer. The court’s so-called “long conference” took place on Sept. 30 this year, and it yielded 15 granted cases so far. … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Supreme Court divided over disputed civil rights attorney’s fees

The justices on Tuesday were divided over a dispute regarding attorney’s fees for plaintiffs in civil rights cases. A federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., ruled that a group of drivers challenging a state motor vehicle law was entitled to reimbursement of their attorney’s fees because a federal district court had issued an order that temporarily barred the state from enforcing the law – and then the Virginia legislature repealed the law. During roughly 80 minutes of oral argument … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Supreme Court to decide if Oklahoma must execute Richard Glossip

Twice in the past decade the Supreme Court has blocked Oklahoma from executing Richard Glossip. Now the state has joined Glossip to argue that newly uncovered evidence shows prosecutors violated his rights at trial. But even with the Oklahoma’s rare confession of error, both the state’s highest court for criminal cases and the state’s pardon and parole board turned down Glossip’s pleas for relief. On Oct. 9, two former U.S. solicitors general – Seth Waxman, representing Glossip, and Paul … Read the rest