Case Notes

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Posted 15 May 2023 in Case Notes Written by: Amanda Karras

Last week, in a win for local governments, the Supreme Court rejected an overly expansive view of the dormant Commerce Clause in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross.  Justice Gorsuch, writing for the majority, declined the pork producers’ arguments which would have “fashion[ed] two new and more aggressive constitutional restrictions on the ability of States [and local governments] to regulate goods sold within their borders.” As he pithily put it, “[w]hile the Constitution addresses many weighty issues, the type of...

Posted 02 May 2023 in Case Notes Written by: Erich Eiselt

Tyler v. Hennepin County, no. 22-166 (US 2023) Background: This case involves a challenge to Minnesota’s statutory property foreclosure scheme. The Plaintiff stopped paying taxes on her Hennepin County condominium in 2010 and for three years thereafter failed to respond to delinquency notices. Subsequently, she did not take advantage of any of the multiple additional avenues that Minnesota law provides to redeem her property or to protect her equity interest. She even apparently went so far as to tell the County...

Posted 29 Mar 2023 in Case Notes Written by: Amanda Karras

Yesterday, the Supreme Court held that the Quiet Title Act’s 12-year statute of limitations period is a claims processing rule, rather than a jurisdictional bar to suit. Because local governments are involved in property disputes with the federal government and the Quiet Title Act is the exclusive mechanism for resolving such disputes, this ruling will benefit local governments. The Quiet Title Act, 28 U.S.C. §2409a provides a waiver of sovereign immunity for the United States, stating: “The United States may be...

Posted 03 May 2022 in Case Notes Written by: Amanda Karras

Yesterday, in a unanimous decision in Shurtleff v. Boston, the Supreme Court held that Boston violated the First Amendment by refusing to fly a Christian flag in front of City Hall when it had approved hundreds of other third-party flags over the years prior to this one and never rejected one until now.  This case centered on whether Boston was engaging in government speech or whether it had (inadvertently) created a public forum for private speech, whereby refusing to fly...

Posted 21 Apr 2022 in Case Notes Written by: Amanda Karras

Today, in a great win for local governments, the Supreme Court held in Austin v. Reagan Nat. Advertising of Austin that distinctions between on/off-premises signs are content neutral under Reed v. Town of Gilbert and therefore not subject to strict scrutiny.  Even better, the majority rejected the “need to read test”, which had been adopted by both the Fifth and Sixth Circuit, and the decision also seems to have narrowed Reed’s scope, all in one fell swoop. At issue in this...

Posted 13 Jan 2022 in Case Notes Written by: Lisa Soronen

In National Federation of Independent Businesses v. Department of Labor the U.S. Supreme Court disallowed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) emergency rule from going into effect temporarily, which requires those who work for employers with 100 or more employees to be vaccinated. Such employers instead could require unvaccinated employees to be tested weekly for COVID-19 and wear a mask. In Biden v. Missouri the Court allowed to go into effect temporarily while litigation in the lower courts continues, an...

Posted 25 Oct 2021 in Case Notes Written by: Amanda Karras

On October 18th, the Supreme Court granted qualified immunity to officers in two cases on a per curiam basis, summarily reversing lower courts in each: Rivas-Villas v. Cortesluna and City of Tahlequah v. Austin.  IMLA filed an amicus brief in the Rivas - Villegas v. Cortesluna case in support of the officers.  In both cases, the Supreme Court relied on video evidence and therefore undisputed facts.  And in both cases, the Court concluded the law was not clearly established given...

Posted 30 Jun 2021 in Case Notes Written by: Amanda Karras

In a per curiam decision, the Supreme Court summarily reversed the Eighth Circuit’s grant of qualified immunity in Lombardo v. City of St. Louis.  While the majority’s decision to reverse left a lot to still be decided, the case may be indicative of the Supreme Court’s attempt to signal to lower courts that qualified immunity is less protective than some courts are currently applying it.  Alternatively, perhaps Justice Alito is right in his dissent that the majority did not want...

Posted 29 Jun 2021 in Case Notes Written by: Amanda Karras

In Pakdel v. City & County of San Francisco, the Supreme Court held the Ninth Circuit erred when it required the petitioners who had alleged a regulatory taking to comply with the agency’s administrative procedures for seeking relief because it is a “settled rule” that “exhaustion of state remedies is not a prerequisite to an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.”  quoting Knick v. Township of Scott, 588 U.S. __ (2019) (emphasis in original).  In what could end up as...

Posted 24 Jun 2021 in Case Notes Written by: Amanda Karras

In a 6-3 opinion the Supreme Court, likening the protection of property rights to the preservation of freedom, held in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid that a California regulation that provided union organizers access to agricultural employers’ property for up to three hours per day, 120 days per year, was a per se physical taking under the Fifth Amendment.  While the case was a loss for the State, looming larger in the case was the question of how the decision...