Announcement of opinions for Wednesday, January 14

The Supreme Court on Monday morning grappled with a dispute in Chevron USA Inc. v. Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana over whether oil and gas companies can move a lawsuit seeking to hold them responsible for damage to the Louisiana coast to federal court. A lawyer for the companies told the justices that they should be allowed to do so under a federal law, known as the federal officer removal statute, that gives federal courts the power to hear state court cases filed against “any officer (or any person acting under that officer) or the United States or of an agency thereof, in an official or individual capacity, for or relating to any act under color of such office.” Paul Clement argued that the conduct at the center of the case “effectively amounted to a joint venture during World War II to get as much oil out of the ground, transport it to the refineries that the government was helping to finance to expand, all in an effort to get petroleum products and in particular” aviation gasoline “onto the war front.”

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Wednesday in a pair of disputes stemming from accidents in Philadelphia and New York City involving buses operated by the New Jersey Transit Corporation, which describes itself as the state’s “public transportation corporation.” The issue at the center of both cases is not whether New Jersey Transit is responsible for the plaintiffs’ injuries, but instead, whether it can be sued in state courts in Pennsylvania and New York.

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide whether two federal laws that allow lawsuits in U.S. courts for torture and serious violations of international law permit private lawsuits for aiding and abetting such conduct. That case, Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe I, was one of five cases in which the justices granted review on Friday afternoon. Two of the other cases that were granted – Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T and Verizon Communications Inc.  v. Federal Communications Commission – will be argued together. The court released a brief list of orders announcing those grants; it is expected to issue a longer list of orders from its Jan. 9 conference at 9:30 a.m. EST on Monday, Jan. 12.

“These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”

A couple of years ago, the Supreme Court shifted the one “non-argument day” it holds for almost every argument session sitting to the Friday before the session starts, instead of the Monday after the two weeks of arguments. Such days often just involve the justices taking the bench for a few minutes to admit new lawyers to the Supreme Court bar. But when opinions in argued cases are ready, those non-argument days can become opinion days.

We were live as the court released its opinion in Bowe v. United States.

We will also be live blogging the court’s possible announcement of opinions on Wednesday, Jan. 14, starting at 9:30 a.m. EST.