Petitions of the week
on Dec 14, 2018 at 9:34 am
This week we highlight petitions pending before the Supreme Court that address, among other things, the applicability of the “commercial activity” exception to sovereign immunity in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act to certain suits; whether the establishment clause precludes courts from considering relevant, admissible secular evidence in ordinary trust and property disputes because the litigants are religious parties; and the jurisdiction of federal courts pursuant to Section 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act in a suit seeking relief for the violation of a collective-bargaining agreement.
The petitions of the week are:
Issues: (1) Whether, in ordinary trust and property disputes, the establishment clause precludes courts from considering secular evidence that is relevant and admissible under governing state law merely because the litigants are religious parties; (2) whether, in ordinary trust and property disputes, excluding secular evidence that is relevant and admissible under state law merely because the litigants are religious parties violates the free exercise clause by treating religious parties differently from—and, here, less favorably than—secular parties; and (3) whether, in ordinary trust and property disputes, federal courts sitting in diversity may disregard governing state substantive law and fashion federal common law merely because the litigants are religious parties.
Issue: Whether federal courts have subject-matter jurisdiction pursuant to Section 301(a) of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185(a), over a complaint for intentional and negligent misrepresentation and declaratory relief, when the lawsuit seeks relief from claims that the plaintiff violated the parties’ collective-bargaining agreement.
Issue: Whether the “commercial activity” exception to sovereign immunity in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(2), is inapplicable to suits challenging conduct inextricably intertwined with a sovereign act of expropriation.
Issue: Whether the “commercial activity” exception to sovereign immunity in the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(2), is inapplicable to suits challenging conduct inextricably intertwined with a sovereign act of expropriation.
