Howard Bashman Howard Bashman. Courtesy photo

Upon Further Review

Welcome to part two of my annual U.S. Supreme Court Third Circuit report card. As I mentioned in last month's part one, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit acquitted itself quite nicely during the just-completed Supreme Court term. Of the seven cases that involved the Third Circuit, the Supreme Court sided with the Third Circuit's approach four times while disagreeing with the Third Circuit's approach the remaining three times.

Last month's column reviewed how the Supreme Court ruled in the two cases that reached it directly from the Third Circuit. In one of the two cases, the Supreme Court agreed with the result the Third Circuit reached, while in the other case the Supreme Court disagreed with the Third Circuit's result. Today's column reviews five cases that the Supreme Court identified as involving circuit splits in which the Third Circuit was on one side of the split. In those five cases, the Supreme Court agreed with the Third Circuit three times and disagreed with it twice.