FedSoc Forums

On January 21, 2022, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey filed suit against Janet Yellen and the Treasury Department over its threat to withdraw federal funding if Governor Ducey did not alter school masking conditions. Ducey allocated over $160 million for schools but conditioned the money on those schools remaining open and not mandating masks. Two attorneys on the ground in Arizona join us to discuss this case. Featuring: --Anni Foster, General Counsel, Governor Doug Ducey--Moderator: Michael Bailey, General Counsel, Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry---This Zoom link is open to public registration at the link above.

Although inflation has broadly scattered across the economy, it is the food we buy where inflation's bite is the most obvious. The Biden Administration has pointed the finger at industry consolidation as the culprit. It proposes a rewrite of the regulations implementing agricultural antitrust statutes as the remedy. Industry disagrees that consolidation is to blame and looks warily at the proposed regulations as harbingers of what is to come for antitrust policy more generally. What is to blame for $18/pound beef, and what if anything can be done to counteract the rapid price increases at the grocery store? How will businesses respond to the proposed regulatory changes? Sean Heather of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Mark Dopp, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of the North American Meat Institute; and Joe Maxwell, president of Farm Action and former Lieutenant Governor of Missouri will discuss the policy and legal options available. Judge Stephen Alexander Vaden of the U.S. Court of International Trade and former General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Agriculture will moderate the panel.Featuring:--Mark Dopp, General Counsel, the North American Meat Institute--Sean Heather, U.S. Chamber of Commerce--Joe Maxwell, President, Farm Action --Moderator: Hon. Stephen Vaden, Judge, U.S. Court of International Trade ---To register, click the link above.

This webinar will focus on spectrum policy in the 5G era and the recent increase in inter-agency spectrum turf wars. In recent years, there has been an uptick in the amount of involvement by other agencies, including the Department of Transportation, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to name a few, in FCC spectrum band proceedings. As spectrum demands continue to increase and the importance of sharing rises, some of this proceeding involvement has led to conflicts of interest, delays, and other challenges. The webinar will explore some of the most recent conflicts, such as C-band and 5.9 GHz band, the 6 GHz court challenge, as well as the potential long-term impacts of these battles on spectrum policy at the FCC and beyond.Featuring:--Prof. Adam Candeub, Professor of Law, Michigan State University--Harold Feld, Senior Vice President, Public Knowledge--Tricia Paoletta, Partner, Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP--Moderator: Danielle Thumann, Legal Advisor, Commissioner Brendan Carr---This Zoom webinar is open to public registration at the link above.

Before the Supreme Court this term is the question of whether all pre-viability bans on abortion are unconstitutional. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, the Court must address this question in light of its previous holdings in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Shortly after oral argument in December 2021, law professor Richard Re encouraged the Court to adopt a gradualist approach, making room for the possibility that the justices could uphold both Mississippi's prohibition on abortions before 15-weeks gestation and its prior precedents in Roe and Casey. Law professor Eric Claeys has written a forthcoming article for the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy in which he takes a deep dive into the abortion precedents, concluding that the Court must either reaffirm or overturn those prior rulings.These two distinguished scholars join us to discuss the argument, the stakes, and more.Featuring: Prof. Eric Claeys, Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason UniversityProf. Richard Re, Joel B. Piassick Research Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law---This Zoom webinar is open to public registration at the link above.

Each month, a panel of constitutional experts convenes to discuss the Court’s upcoming docket sitting by sitting. Issues presented in the March 2022 sitting included arbitration and the Federal Arbitration Act, international law, states rights, civil procedure, and more.Morgan v. Sundance, Inc. (March 21) – arbitration and contract law Berger v. North Carolina State Conference of NAACP (March 21) – states rights, intervention, and civil procedure Golan v. Saada (March 22) – international law; the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction ZF Automotive US, Inc. v. Luxshare, Ltd. consolidated for argument with Alixpartners, LLP v. Fund for Protection of Investors’ Rights (March 23) – rules of evidence before international arbitral tribunals; what constitutes a “foreign or international tribunal” under 28 U.S.C. § 1782(a)Ledure v. Union Pacific Railroad Co. (March 28) – The Locomotive Inspection Act Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon (March 28) – the definition of “transportation workers” under the Federal Arbitration Act Torres v. Texas Dept. of Public Safety (March 29) – state sovereign immunity, the constitutional war power, and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act of 1994Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana (March 30) – enforcement of bilateral agreements under the Federal Arbitration ActFeaturing: Theane Evangelis, Partner, Gibson DunnJonathan Urick, Association Chief Counsel, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Litigation CenterJohn Elwood, Partner, Arnold PorterEvan Caminker, Dean Emeritus and Branch Rickey Collegiate Professor of Law at Michigan Law Moderator: Jess Bravin, Supreme Court Correspondent, The Wall Street Journal ---This conference has already happened. Watch the archived video above or at www.youtube.com/c/TheFederalis...

As federalism becomes an increasingly important principle of our constitutional structure, Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has published a timely book titled, Who Decides? States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation (Oxford, 2021). Judge Sutton, a former law clerk to Justices Lewis Powell and Antonin Scalia, argues that constitutional law in America--encompassing the systems of all 51 governments--should have a role in assessing the right balance of power among all branches of our state and federal governments.A distinguished group of legal thinkers and practitioners joins us to discuss this book.Featuring: --Hon. William H. Pryor, Jr., Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit--Hon. Jeffrey S. Sutton, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit--Moderator: Prof. Jennifer L. Mascott, Assistant Professor of Law and Co-Executive Director, The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State, Antonin Scalia Law School---This Zoom event is open to public registration at the link above.

Before the Supreme Court this term is the question of whether all pre-viability bans on abortion are unconstitutional. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, the Court must address this question in light of its previous holdings in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Shortly after oral argument in December 2021, law professor Richard Re encouraged the Court to adopt a gradualist approach, making room for the possibility that the justices could uphold both Mississippi's prohibition on abortions before 15-weeks gestation and its prior precedents in Roe and Casey. Law professor Eric Claeys has written a forthcoming article for the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy in which he takes a deep dive into the abortion precedents, concluding that the Court must either reaffirm or overturn those prior rulings.These two distinguished scholars join us to discuss the argument, the stakes, and more.Featuring: --Prof. Eric Claeys, Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University--Prof. Richard Re, Joel B. Piassick Research Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law---This Zoom webinar is open to public registration at the link above.

On March 3, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Cameron v. EMW Women's Surgical Center. Writing for the 8-1 majority, Justice Samuel Alito explained how the the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit erred in denying the Kentucky attorney general’s motion to intervene on the commonwealth’s behalf in litigation concerning Kentucky House Bill 454, related to the rights of the unborn. Justice Thomas filed a concurring opinion. Justice Kagan filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which Justice Breyer joined. Justice Sotomayor filed a dissenting opinion.Our expert will cover the case, the ruling, and its implications.Featuring: --Philip D. Williamson, Partner, Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP---This Zoom event is open to public registration at the link above.

Join us for a webinar featuring Vikrant Reddy to discuss the Supreme Court decision in Wooden v. United States.Speaker:Vikrant Reddy, Senior Research Fellow, Charles Koch Institute

In October 2021, LTL Management LLC (LTL), a newly created and separate subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) that was established to hold and manage claims in the cosmetic talc litigation, filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. J&J also entered into a funding agreement with LTL that assures that LTL will have the same, if not greater, ability to satisfy talc claims once the parties reach a plan of reorganization. J&J submits that the Chapter 11 restructuring is the only means by which LTL and its affiliates can reach a swift and equitable resolution for current and future claimants. Opposition argues the case does not serve a valid restructuring purpose, suggesting J&J filed it in bad faith. On February 25, the bankruptcy court in New Jersey sided with LTL and denied claimants’ motion to dismiss. The claimants have indicated they will appeal the ruling.A divisional merger is a state-law transaction where a business entity divides itself into two new entities. It is similar in substance to other state-law transactions that result in the emergence of new legal entities. Controversy has arisen when—following the divisional merger—one of the new entities initiates Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, as LTL did.Professor Tony Casey of the University of Chicago Law School will address the interplay of divisional mergers and Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the context of the J&J litigation and LTL bankruptcy. He will review the purpose of Chapter 11 in preserving economic and social value, explain how a divisional merger can further that purpose in the mass tort context, and discuss how existing law protects against the potential for abuse. Featuring:--Prof. Anthony Casey, Deputy Dean, Donald M. Ephraim Professor of Law and Economics, ---Faculty Director, The Center on Law and Finance, University of Chicago Law School---This Zoom event is open to public registration at the link above.