Scotus Tag

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Posted 30 May 2023 in Case Notes Written by: Erich Eiselt

On May 25, 2023, the Supreme Court released its highly anticipated decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, a case again construing the meaning of “waters of the United States.” The decision in favor of the petitioners was unanimous, but the underlying analyses varied widely. The case arose when Michael and Chantell Sackett began backfilling a housing lot near Priest Lake, Idaho. According to the EPA, this violated the Clean Water Act, which prohibits discharging pollutants including gravel into “navigable waters,”...

Posted 25 May 2023 in Case Notes Written by: Amanda Karras

Today, in a unanimous opinion, the Supreme Court concluded that Hennepin County violated the Takings Clause by keeping the surplus equity in a condominium that it sold after the homeowner failed to pay her property taxes (and failed to regain title to that property pursuant to state law).  The Taking occurred not with the sale of the property for failure to pay property taxes or when the County kept the tax debt (including interest and penalties), but rather, the County...

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 25 Apr 2023 in Commentary Written by: Amanda Karras

During the IMLA Seminar on Friday, 4/21 Amy Howe, a prominent Supreme Court reporter predicted that the Supreme Court could grant two important First Amendment social media cases as early as Monday, 4/24, which is exactly what happened.  The cases are Lindke v. Freed and O’Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier, and they involve almost identical issues: Whether an elected official violates the First Amendment by blocking someone from their social media account where that account purports to be personal in nature (though...

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 29 Jun 2022 in Case Summaries (eNews) Written by: Amanda Karras

Last week, in a win for local governments, the Supreme Court held 6-3 in Vega v. Tekoh, that an individual may not bring a Section 1983 claim based on an alleged improper admission of an unMirandized statement during a criminal prosecution. This case involves a deputy sheriff's investigation of sexual assault allegations.  Deputy Vega believed his questioning was non-custodial and he did not Mirandize the suspect—Terence Tekoh—prior to asking questions about what had happened.  Tekoh ultimately agreed to write down what...

Posted 28 Jun 2022 in Case Summaries (eNews) Written by: Amanda Karras

Yesterday, the Supreme Court held in a 6-3 decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District that a school district violated the First Amendment’s Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses when it terminated the employment of a high school football coach for refusing to curtail his practice of praying at the 50-yard line after football games with students.  Significantly, the majority also overruled Lemon v. Kurtzman and the Establishment Clause’s “endorsement test,” though it does so without explicitly saying so (calling...

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...