Jan. 14, 2022
Good morning. The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling against OSHA’s vaccination-or-testing rule for large employers isn’t the end of the dispute, lawyers say. Another law school could distance itself from honoring the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall, and Arent Fox has a big workplace investigation assignment for Microsoft. Plus: President Biden has a new 5th Circuit vacancy, and catch the latest Winning Strategies video installment. It’s Friday, the last stop before the weekend. Let’s go!
Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe here.
Prof. Dorit Reiss of U.C. Hastings law school discusses the U.S. Supreme Court’s vaccine rulings. Watch the video. The U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling against the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccination-or-testing mandate for large businesses puts a new spotlight on state regulatory measures and company policymaking. The justices endorsed a separate federal vaccine requirement for healthcare facilities, our colleagues Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung report.
The rule affecting large businesses, issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, was not an ordinary use of federal power, the Supreme Court said in an unsigned order. "It is instead a significant encroachment on the lives — and health — of a vast number of employees," the court said.
Ogletree Deakins shareholder Karen Tynan in Sacramento said the Supreme Court’s decision “isn’t the end of this issue” and tees up a court fight over OSHA’s power. “Many individual states will pursue similar vaccination and testing regulation through their own state OSHA plans,” Tynan said.
In Atlanta, Alston & Bird partner Brett Coburn said it’s possible OSHA might try to issue a more tailored rule that attempts to address the Supreme Court’s concerns. Still, he said, the “Supreme Court seems to have put up multiple roadblocks to any such rule being validated by the courts.”
Loeb & Loeb’s Ian Schaefer in New York said the ruling doesn’t stop private employers from rolling out or maintaining vaccine-or-testing mandates. “The decision point is now squarely left to boardrooms and chief executives to decide the fate of their own organizational policy, and their role in impacting how the next phase of the pandemic unfolds for the nation and the economy,” Schaefer said.
Industry buzz
Number of the day: REUTERS/Andrew Kelly That’s how many borrowers will have their debts canceled as a result of student loan company Navient’s settlement with several states over claims the company pushed students into predatory subprime loans. The settlement, which doesn’t require Navient to admit wrongdoing, is valued at $1.85 billion. Read more about the deal.
Columnist spotlight: Lieff Cabraser's gambit: Contacting 9,100 potential clients despite protective order The plaintiffs firm Lieff Cabraser has been trying for two years to persuade a federal judge in Atlanta to amend a protective order in a class action against DirecTV to allow Lieff to notify about 9,100 DirecTV customers that the company disclosed their confidential information to an expert witness in a possible violation of federal privacy protection for satellite TV subscribers. On Friday, the judge said he would not modify the order to allow Lieff to solicit clients. Lieff’s response was audacious, to say the least. Alison Frankel has the mind-boggling details.
Check out other recent pieces from all our columnists: Alison Frankel, Jenna Greene and Hassan Kanu.
Attorney Hildy Sastre of Shook Hardy and Bacon on how she led her team to victory in defending pharmaceutical company Sanofi against a claim by a cancer survivor that labels on the chemotherapy Taxotere didn’t properly warn of permanent hair loss — including the challenges of cross-examining cancer survivors and how to score a credibility boost for defense counsel. This is the latest episode of our Winning Strategies video series.
"We aren't getting through this without a civil war. Too late for that."
Stewart Rhodes, founder of the far-right militia group Oath Keepers, who was charged with seditious conspiracy after prosecutors said he encouraged his followers to oppose the transfer of presidential power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 election. In the indictment, prosecutors quoted Rhodes’ directives to Oath Keepers leadership where he told them to reject the outcome of the election. Rhodes was charged alongside ten other people in the case, which is the first to accuse alleged Jan. 6 riot participants of sedition. Legal experts call the case a "textbook definition" of seditious conspiracy.
What to catch up on this weekend
Coming up today
In the courts
Industry moves
Lawyer speak: Five cannabis trends to watch in 2022 The legal cannabis industry made significant progress in 2021, and that trend is expected to continue in the new year, write Alex Malyshev and Sarah Ganley of Carter Ledyard & Milburn. But many of the same problems that stymied the country’s legal pot businesses are likely to stick around, they say. Here’s what Malyshev and Ganley say the industry should expect in 2022.
Want more legal news?
Contact and follow us
Diana Novak Jones diana.jones2@thomsonreuters.com
Mike Scarcella mike.scarcella@thomsonreuters.com
Thanks for reading The Daily Docket. Invite friends to subscribe here.
Contact us with feedback.
Copyright © 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 610 Opperman Drive, Eagan, MN 55123
Want to change how you receive these emails? |