Posts in category “Cert Petitions”

Disclosure: I filed an amicus brief in the Fourth Circuit in support of rehearing its decision in this case and discussed the cert petition with the petitioner’s counsel.

Last week, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Parrish v. United States. The case asks if a would-be appellant must file a second notice of appeal after a court treats the first notice as a motion to reopen the time to appeal under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(6).…

Immigration law generally strips the courts of appeals of jurisdiction to review a variety of factual and discretionary issues. But a savings clause preserves jurisdiction to review legal and constitutional issues. And in 2020’s Guerrero-Lasprilla v. Barr, the Supreme Court held that appellate jurisdiction exists to review mixed questions of law and fact—i.e.…

The Supreme Court held in Ortiz v. Jordan that parties cannot appeal evidence-sufficiency issues raised in a denied summary-judgment motion after a trial on the merits. Parties must instead raise issues with the sufficiency of the trial evidence via a motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50. But Ortiz left open the possibility that a denied summary-judgment motion could preserve purely legal issues for appeal.…

The last year or so has seen some significant judicial activity when it comes to the finality trap. The trap can arise after a party voluntarily dismisses some of its claims without prejudice and then tries to appeal. This scenario makes some courts of appeals suspicious, as parties sometimes use these voluntary dismissals to manufacture an interlocutory appeal.…

The Supreme Court held in Ortiz v. Jordan that parties cannot appeal evidence-sufficiency issues raised in a denied summary-judgment motion after a trial on the merits. Parties must instead raise issues with the sufficiency of the trial evidence via a motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50. But Ortiz left open the possibility that a denied summary-judgment motion could preserve purely legal issues for appeal.…

October Term 2017 could have been a big one for appellate jurisdiction at the Supreme Court. But it was not to be. Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District v. Tesla Energy Operations Inc. settled before the Court could decide whether denials of state-action immunity are immediately appealable collateral orders.…

A second cert petition has been filed in Xitronix and KLA-Tencor’s fight—as well as the Fifth and Federal Circuit’s fight—over the Federal Circuit’s exclusive jurisdiction in patent appeals. (I mentioned this petition in a recent weekly roundup.) The appeal has ping-ponged from the Federal Circuit to the Fifth Circuit and then back to the Federal Circuit.…

The Supreme Court granted cert yesterday in Dex Media Inc. v. Click-To-Call Technologies, LP. The case concerns the appealability of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s decision to institute inter partes review. The statute in question—35 U.S.C. § 314(d)—says that “[t]he determination . . . whether to institute an inter partes review under this section shall be final and nonappealable.”…

The Supreme Court granted cert this week in Holguin-Hernandez v. United States, No. 18-7739, to decide whether criminal defendants must object after sentencing to preserve for appeal a challenge to the substantive reasonableness (read: length) of their sentence. The courts of appeals have split on this matter. And given the United States’s concession that a post-sentencing objection is not required, Holguin-Hernandez will likely mark the end of the rule requiring them.…

The Convention Against Torture (along with its implementing statutes and regulations) prohibits deporting immigrants to countries where they are likely to face torture. Immigrants can accordingly seek to defer their removal when they face a likelihood of torture. If deferral is denied, the Immigration and Nationality Act gives the courts of appeals jurisdiction to review that denial.…