3 decisions this morning, no Calls for the View of the Solicitor General, 1 new granted case.
I will comment on the Crow Tribe Treaty case below.
Above link is today’s order list.
Above is the link to the newly granted case.
Issue : Whether an order denying a motion for relief from the automatic stay is a final order under 28 U.S.C. § 158(a)(1).
The three cases decided today:
Holding : A bankruptcy debtor’s rejection of an executory contract under 11 U.S.C. §365 has the same effect as a breach of that contract outside bankruptcy; such an act thus cannot rescind rights that the contract previously granted.
Judgment : Reversed and remanded, 8-1, in an opinion by Justice Kagan on May 20, 2019. Justice Sotomayor filed a concurring opinion. Justice Gorsuch filed a dissenting opinion.
Holding : Wyoming’s statehood did not abrogate the Crow Tribe’s 1868 federal treaty right to hunt on the “unoccupied lands of the United States”; the lands of the Bighorn National Forest did not become categorically “occupied” when the forest was created.
Judgment : Vacated and remanded, 5-4, in an opinion by Justice Sotomayor on May 20, 2019. Justice Alito filed a dissenting opinion, in which Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas and Kavanaugh joined.
I will join with Justice Alito’s well reasoned dissent in this case. In any event, while Herrera has won today, I believe this will only be a temporary reversal and he will ultimately lose as other issues are litigated on remand.
Holding : “Clear evidence” that the Food and Drug Administration would not have approved a change to a drug’s label – thus pre-empting a state-law failure-to-warn claim – is evidence showing that the drug manufacturer fully informed the FDA of the justifications for the warning required by state law and that the FDA, in turn, informed the drug manufacturer that the FDA would not approve a change to the drug’s label to include that warning; the question of agency disapproval is primarily one of law for a judge to decide.
Judgment : Vacated and remanded, 9-0, in an opinion by Justice Breyer on May 20, 2019. Justice Thomas filed a concurring opinion. Justice Alito filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh joined.
Next Monday is a legal holiday, so the Supreme Court will be back on Tuesday, May 28 for orders and opinions, with a conference on Thursday, May 23.