Category Archives: U.S. Supreme Court

Fitzpatrick article on “The End of Class Actions?”

Prolific class action scholar (and former Scalia clerk) Brian Fitzpatrick of Vanderbilt Law has just posted to SSRN an interesting new paper foreseeing and lamenting the effects of his former boss's handiwork in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion and American Express v. Italian Colors (both cases in which I had the privilege of representing the losing […]

Richard Cordray’s remarks on the CFPB arbitration report

Here's the text of CFPB Director Richard Cordray's remarks on the arbitration report, to be delivered at today's field hearing in Newark.  He summarizes the legal backdrop to the Bureau's report, its empirical approach, and its key findings (which I've highlighted in bold). Well worth reading in full.                                                                            Prepared Remarks of Richard Cordray Director […]

For the Third Time, Supreme Court Takes Up Disparate-Impact in Fair Housing

by Deepak Gupta Perhaps betting that the third time's a charm, the Supreme Court this morning once again granted a petition over whether disparate-impact claims — based on seemingly neutral practices with discriminatory effects — are cognizable under the Fair Housing Act. The case, Texas Deparatment of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities […]

Media Matters Talks to Paul Bland about Class Actions and Justice

Co-blogger Paul Bland, the new Executive Director of Public Justice, was recently interviewed by Media Matters.  In an engaging interview in his office Paul discusses his singular career as a champion for consumer rights, the importance of class actions as a means of challenging corporate wrondoing, and the pro-corporate bent of the Roberts Court. It's a […]

Deference to the Senate in Noel Canning

As Gerard Magliocca noted in October, he and I are the only commentators who’ve taken the position that the courts ought to defer to the Senate’s view of its own recess in NLRB v. Noel Canning. Given that, I was pleased that the notion of deferring to the Senate received so much attention at oral argument yesterday. I […]

Fifth Circuit Decides D.R. Horton, Overturns NLRB’s Ruling that Class-Action Bans are Unfair Labor Practices

by Deepak Gupta In a much-anticipated decision, the Fifth Circuit held today that the National Labor Relations Board overstepped its authority when it ruled that an employer violated federal labor law by requiring its employees to sign an arbitration agreement containing a class-action ban. Judge Leslie Southwick, joined by Judge King, isssued the opinion for the court. Here's […]

Plaintiff-Side Appellate Advocacy at Yale Law School

For those in New Haven: I'll be giving a talk about plaintiff-side appellate advocacy at noon tomorrow (Thursday) at Yale Law School. Among other things, I'll discuss the advocacy imbalance facing consumers, workers, and other plaintiffs in the appellate courts and touch on the fate of class actions in the Roberts Court. Hope to see you there. […]