Marcia Coyle

June 02, 2010 | National Law Journal

Add famed Mississippi trial lawyer Paul Minor, now serving prison time in Oklahoma, to the list of federal prosecutors, defense lawyers, business execs and public officials anxiously awaiting the U. S. Supreme Court's verdict on the constitutionality of the federal "honest services" fraud law.

By Marcia Coyle

3 minute read

September 26, 2006 | The Recorder

Emily Maw and other foreign lawyers are petitioners in two of three cases before the Supreme Court that address the barriers they face, including PTO restrictions.

By Marcia Coyle

10 minute read

December 14, 1999 | Law.com

Businesses that successfully defend themselves against environmental suits increasingly are challenging the refusal by federal courts to award attorney fees. The lower courts apply a "dual standard" that is not supported by the neutral language in many federal fee statutes, defendants argue. Environmental groups and plaintiffs' lawyers charge the fee quest is simply another attack on citizen suits -- one that could bankrupt organizations and individuals that sue to protect the public interest.

By Marcia Coyle

7 minute read

June 19, 2009 | National Law Journal

A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday made it more difficult for employees to prove age discrimination charges against their employers. The majority ruled that a worker cannot establish discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act by showing that age was one motivating factor for the employer's action, but instead must show that age was the decisive factor. The practical effect of the decision, said employment lawyers, is to eliminate so-called mixed-motives cases under the ADEA.

By Marcia Coyle

4 minute read

December 24, 2002 | Law.com

In James Ellis' eyes, mentally retarded persons have no place on death rows. In his first argument in any court, Ellis convinced the U.S. Supreme Court that the nation agrees. The decision was the culmination of 30 years of his work on behalf of mentally retarded and mentally ill persons in the civil and criminal justice systems. For those efforts and his landmark victory, Ellis is The National Law Journal's Lawyer of the Year.

By Marcia Coyle

7 minute read

March 28, 2006 | National Law Journal

Today, the Supreme Court takes up a challenge raising vital questions about executive power in the war on terror. Accused enemy combatant Salim Ahmed Hamdan contends that President Bush lacked authority to establish military commissions to try Guantanamo Bay detainees for alleged war crimes. When the president signed into law the Detainee Treatment Act last year, the stakes in Hamdan's case soared, and now the Court must determine whether it even has jurisdiction to decide the issue.

By Marcia Coyle

9 minute read

February 04, 2010 | The Legal Intelligencer

The House Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that would expand the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, allowing it to review petitions filed by military service members challenging courts-martial decisions.

By Marcia Coyle

4 minute read

June 02, 2008 | Law.com

Despite two solid victories for workers in job bias cases in the Roberts Court recently and what some consider "surprising" votes by the two newest justices in those cases, plaintiffs' and management attorneys hesitate to predict a significant shift away from the U.S. Supreme Court's generally pro-employer stance of recent years.

By Marcia Coyle

10 minute read

September 09, 2008 | The Legal Intelligencer

The federal government recently suffered two potentially multibillion-dollar blows in long-running breach-of-contract litigation involving oil leases and spent nuclear fuel, and it now faces a third area of possible liability for broken Medicare contracts.

By Marcia Coyle

6 minute read

August 26, 2009 | Law.com

With his death Tuesday night at age 77, Sen. Ted Kennedy leaves a legal legacy that spans not just decades but touches nearly every major area of the law. The Kennedy imprint, either as original sponsor or a leading proponent, is on the nation's landmark voting rights laws, its workplace discrimination laws, immigration reform, judicial nominations and other major issues.

By Marcia Coyle

4 minute read