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Posted 04 Jun 2014 in Case Notes
Taxpayers X and Y live in the same state and have the same income but Taxpayer X earns all of her income in-state while Taxpayer Y earns all of her income out-of-state.Supreme Court  Taxpayer Y pays more in taxes because she pays income taxes out-of-state and pays a county income tax in her home state.  Unfair?  (Not necessarily.  After all, Taxpayer Y receives government services in the county where she resides.)  Unconstitutional?  The Supreme Court will decide. The Supreme Court hasn’t decided a state and local government tax case since Armour v. Indianapolis, during the Court’s 2011 term.  In Comptroller v. Wynne it will decide an issue of first impression:  whether a state must offer a credit to its residents for all income taxes paid to another jurisdiction.  A decision against Maryland’s Comptroller would limit state and local taxing authority nationwide.

Posted 30 May 2014 in Case Notes
On Tuesday the Supreme Court issued two unanimous opinions granting law enforcement officers qualified immunity.highway stop  These ruling were unsurprising; the lower court errors in both cases were obvious. In Plumhoff v. Rickard the Sixth Circuit did not so much as discuss the qualified immunity standard when denying qualified immunity.  In Wood v. Moss the Ninth Circuit viewed the qualified immunity question at a high level of generality causing dissenting Judge O’Scannlain to (accurately) warn:  “Our court's track record in deciding qualified immunity cases is far from exemplary, and with this decision, I am concerned that our storied losing streak will continue.” But at least Plumhoff v. Rickard contained a surprise.

Posted 07 Apr 2014 in Commentary
7432008582_3c5d6429f6_nBy Lisa Soronen [We are thrilled to have a guest post from Lisa Soronen, executive director of the State and Local Legal Center.] Last week, the Supreme Court struck down aggregate limits on individual contributions to candidates for federal office, political parties, and political action committees. McCutcheon v. FEC will likely impact the dozen or so states that place aggregate limits on individual campaign contributions to candidates for state office. A cursory glance at state campaign finance laws regulating local elections indicates that states generally have not adopted aggregate caps meaning this decision will not affect contributions to local elections. Federal law allows

Posted 08 Jan 2014 in Case Notes, IMLA Briefs
Local governments often establish fixed buffer zones to eliminate congestion and to ensure public safety. Does the First Amendment require a significant change in current local practices?Barricade Next Wednesday, January 15th, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that could address that question. McCullen v. Coakley, No. 12-1168 concerns whether a Massachusetts law that bars entering or remaining within a 35-foot radius of a reproductive-health-care facility violates the First Amendment. The First Circuit upheld the law as a reasonable, content-neutral limit. Local governments have filed two important amicus curiae briefs in the case. First, IMLA joined the National League of Cities, National Association of Counties, the International City/County Management Association, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors in a brief urging the Court to respect state and local governments' need to establish buffer zones to protect public safety. The brief offers a number of examples

Posted 23 Dec 2013 in Roundup

Be sure to check out details of the Supreme Court Practice Seminar that IMLA and the State and Local Legal Center will host on March 4, 2014. Lisa Soronen, executive director of the State and Local Legal Center, has invited some remarkable Supreme Court practitioners. It is a can't-miss program for anyone intersted in the Court. You can register here....

Posted 12 Dec 2013 in Case Notes
In a unanimous decision released Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court held that federal abstention under Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 (1971) applies in only three “exceptional circumstances.”  The Court previously identified those exceptional circumstances in New Orleans Public Service, Inc. v. Council of City of New Orleans, 491 U.S. 350 (NOPSI) (1989). This week, it confirmed, in Sprint Communications, Inc. v. Jacobs et al., that Younger abstention extends no further. Supreme Court The Court reaffirmed that Younger abstention is appropriate, and federal courts should defer to state courts, only when faced with:
  1.  “state criminal prosecutions,”
  2. “civil enforcement proceedings,” or
  3. “civil proceedings involving certain orders that are uniquely in furtherance of the state courts’ ability to perform their judicial functions.”
If none of those exceptional circumstances is present, the federal courts may not invoke Younger abstention. As we discussed previously, Sprint involved two separate actions that Sprint Communications, Inc. initiated against members of the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB), one pending in Iowa state court and the other in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.  In both actions,

Posted 22 Oct 2013 in Roundup

The State and Local Legal Center hosted an excellent Supreme Court Preview Webinar this afternoon. The panelists -- Tom Hungar, Kannon Shanmugam, and David Savage -- discussed the following cases: Town of Greece v. Galloway -- Is the Town's legislative prayer practice consistent with the Establishment Clause? EPA v. EME Homer City Generation -- Did the EPA properly enact rules addressing State air pollution under Clean Air Act's "good neighbor" provision? McCullen v. Coakley -- Does a Massachusetts law forbidding speakers from entering or remaining on a...

Posted 27 Sep 2013 in Roundup
SupremeCourt2(1) Next Term Over at Cities Speak, Lisa Soronen of the State and Local Legal Center outlines upcoming Supreme Court cases that could affect local governments: And Wednesday, Irene Zurko discussed the case of Sprint Communications v. Jacobs. For a full preview, register to hear from Tom Hungar, Kannon Shanmugam, and David Savage on October 22nd here. (2) More on Town of Greece SCOTUSblog has some interesting commentary on Town of Greece, a case that we previously addressed here. Eric Rassbach says that those challenging the Town's prayer practice have reached a "'Hail Mary'" moment" where "facing imminent disaster" they "stake[e] everything on one desperate, final gambit:"