Good morning and welcome to Supreme Court Brief. Justice Clarence Thomas is not on the bench but is participating remotely in oral arguments. The justices have just one case this morning for arguments. The issue is whether states can be sued in state court for violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act. We take a look at some of the briefs. Next term, the justices will take up a copyright "fair use" case involving Andy Warhol's Prince series. Scroll down for more on the impact of the Virginia Thomas emails on the court's legitimacy.

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Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer offices in Washington, D.C. Photo by Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

War Powers & State Immunity

The justices this morning consider the scope of state sovereign immunity from suits for damages but in the unusual context of Congress's war powers and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act, or USERRA.

LeRoy Torres, represented by Arnold & Porter senior associate Andrew Tutt, argues in Torres v. Texas Dept. of Public Safety that Texas and the states are not immune from suit for violations of USERRA. He argues states ceded their immunity to suits authorized by the war powers in Article I when they agreed to the plan of the constitutional convention.