Roberts courts

REUTERS: U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday signaled they may rein in the power of in-house judges serving on a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office tribunal who have the ability to cancel patents in a case involving a dispute between surgical device makers. Justices raised questions during arguments in the case about the constitutionality of the agency's selection of the judges and grappled over how to address the issue. Their ruling, due by the end of June, could jeopardize the work of a tribunal called the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that adjudicates the validity of hundreds of patents annually. The case arose from a fight between privately held Florida-based medical device company Arthrex and British-based rival Smith & Nephew PLC. The justices are considering the U.S. government's appeal of a 2019 lower court decision that the board's judges were appointed in a way that violates a U.S. Constitution provision intended to ensure accountability for powerful government … [Read more...] about US Supreme Court questions constitutionality of patent tribunal

REUTERS: U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday signaled they may rein in the power of in-house judges serving on a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office tribunal who have the ability to cancel patents in a case involving a dispute between surgical device makers. Justices raised questions during arguments in the case about the constitutionality of the agency's selection of the judges and grappled over how to address the issue. Their ruling, due by the end of June, could jeopardize the work of a tribunal called the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that adjudicates the validity of hundreds of patents annually. The case arose from a fight between privately held Florida-based medical device company Arthrex and British-based rival Smith & Nephew PLC. The justices are considering the U.S. government's appeal of a 2019 lower court decision that the board's judges were appointed in a way that violates a U.S. Constitution provision intended to ensure accountability for powerful government … [Read more...] about US Supreme Court questions patent tribunal’s constitutionality

The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Tuesday over a set of Arizona voting restrictions alleged to be racially discriminatory in a dispute that could set the most important voting rights precedent in nearly a decade. A potentially landmark ruling in coming months may determine whether a suite of voting curbs working their way through GOP state legislatures across the country will survive legal scrutiny before the pivotal 2022 midterms and the next race for the White House. For the 6-3 conservative majority court, the case marks a first chance to define the sweep of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). That provision, Section 2, makes it illegal to enact laws that place an unequal burden on the franchise of racial minorities. ADVERTISEMENT Civil rights groups say it’s crucial that the justices use the Arizona case to give a robust reading to Section 2 in light of a past Supreme Court ruling that narrowed safeguards for minority voters. “It is imperative that … [Read more...] about Supreme Court faces landmark challenge on voting rights

WASHINGTON: The first U.S. Supreme Court arguments conducted by teleconference: a break from tradition due to the coronavirus pandemic: played out smoothly on Monday in a case involving hotel reservation website Booking.com, with even the typically silent Justice Clarence Thomas joining the fray. The pandemic has prompted changes at almost ever level of American society, with the nine justices holding arguments in the trademark case not in their courtroom but by participating remotely using a dial-in format to combat the pathogen's spread. The arguments began as usual with the marshal of the court's traditional words "Oyez, Oyez, Oyez," and proceeded with Chief Justice Roberts playing the role of traffic cop. Thomas, who usually refrains from asking questions during arguments, posed two rounds of queries. In another first, the court provided a live audio feed, making these the first arguments that the public could hear live. The technical hiccups were brief, including moments … [Read more...] about Smooth sailing in US Supreme Court’s first teleconference case; Thomas joins fray

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday threw out a lower court ruling that had allowed litigation by Montana landowners to proceed against BP Plc unit Atlantic Richfield Co seeking a more extensive cleanup of a hazardous waste site than the federal government had ordered. The justices, in a 7-2 ruling, tossed a state court decision that allowed the claims for restoration damages by the private landowners within the sprawling site of its former Anaconda copper smelter in western Montana to proceed to trial. The case involves the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program responsible for cleaning up certain toxic waste sites. In the ruling authored by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, the court decided that under the law governing Superfund sites the property owners needed the approval of the EPA before undertaking restoration of their own contaminated land. Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined by fellow conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, dissented from the ruling. The … [Read more...] about US Supreme Court sides with BP unit to curtail Superfund site cleanup lawsuits