Readers of Law and Liberty may have noticed that I am a fan of Justice Antonin Scalia (for example, here and here). I am also an admirer of Robert H. Bork, whom my colleague John McGinnis has described as “the most important legal scholar on the right in the last 50 years.” Bork was a pioneer in both the field of antitrust law (with his influential 1978 book The Antitrust Paradox) and constitutional law, as the father of what we now call “originalism.” In his seminal 1971 article in the Indiana Law Journal, entitled “Neutral Principles and Some First Amendment Problems,”[1] and in his later best-selling books, The Tempting of America (1990) and Slouching Towards Gomorrah (1996), Bork eviscerated the “noninterpretive” theories of constitutional law that dominated the legal academy in the 1960s and 1970s.
AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton is praising the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to repeal the unlawful Obama-era Clean Power Plan, a “job-killing regulation” that Texas, West Virginia and 22 other states successfully challenged all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
DALLAS – The heirs of Max Hopper, a deceased American Airlines executive, have come out more than victorious in their suit against banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co. over allegations of breach of fiduciary duty.
Justice Antonin Scalia definitely had a way with words. Law students pore over his opinions not just for Scalia’s keen analysis but to delight in the verve of his prose—pungent, clear, combative, and always colorful. Scalia aficionados also savor his books and essays, which showcase his forceful rhetoric and deft pen. Alas, the body of Scalia’s judicial decisions and scholarship, although considerable, is finite. Fortunately, Scalia fans now have a treasure trove of new material to savor, in the form of a recently-released compilation of the late Justice’s speeches, entitled Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived.
WASHINGTON – A 2014 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on "abstract" patents has hit patent litigation hard and reduced the burden on software developers in the three years since its ruling, according to two experts in the intellectual property law.
WASHINGTON - The American Tort Reform Association is cheering the recent reversal of a record-setting $663 million False Claims Act verdict in a case that helped land the Eastern District of Texas on ATRA’s Judicial Hellhole list two years ago.
Originalism is a two-way street. Judges wishing to interpret the Constitution in accordance with its original public meaning must not import into their decisions policy proscriptions not actually derived from the text and structure of that document. Just as important is that textualism and originalism require judges to give force to all provisions of the Constitution, and not pick and choose which clauses to enforce.
EAST TEXAS – On Sept. 21, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that Judge Rodney Gilstrap, Eastern District of Texas, abused his discretion by refusing to transfer a patent lawsuit.
AUSTIN – On Sept. 12, Attorney General Ken Paxton released a statement after the U.S. Supreme Court, in separate rulings, blocked two lower court rulings that invalidated parts of Texas' House and congressional maps.
AUSTIN – A 14-state coalition has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court to defend the First Amendment right of Barronelle Stutzman, a Washington-based floral shop owner who was sued over allegations of sexual orientation discrimination, the Texas Attorney General's office reported.
NEW ORLEANS – Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sided against the National Labor Relations Board, finding that Convergys Corp. has the right to require employees to arbitrate disputes against the company, keeping them from initiating class action lawsuits.
TYLER – E-commerce software developer BigCommerce Inc. filed a written objection against a magistrate judge’s report in a patent infringement case after the judge recommended the denial of its motion to dismiss for improper venue stating the company had waived its venue defense.
What prompts a man to change his mind on a serious matter after 35 years, and should the reversal be met with pride (for eventually getting it right), or chagrin (for taking so long)? For reasons of vanity, I’m going to take a positive tack and choose the former.
AUSTIN – On July 25, Attorney General Ken Paxton joined West Virginia’s amicus brief in Robinson v. United States along with Indiana, Michigan and Utah in the U.S. Supreme Court to protect against unjustified frisk searches occurring on the suspicion that a citizen is armed.
Remember when Plano was famous for being the headquarters of Frito-Lay, Dr. Pepper, J.C. Penny, and Pizza Hut?
Those were the good old days, and folks were proud of the hometown.
Then, something happened. Alien creatures began to descend from outer space, or other states, and things started to change.
TYLER – The U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas, a favorite venue for patent litigation, will hold on to at least one more patent lawsuit for the time being, as a federal judge recently found a defendant’s TC Heartland argument “unpersuasive.”
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - As the director of a federal consumer protection agency seemingly fights for his job, he has gone forth with plans to finalize a controversial rule – and a court challenge seems imminent.
AUSTIN – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army are moving to rescind the 2015 Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) following a 20-state coalition, including Texas, calling for the preservation of the states' role in protecting the nation’s water sources.
AUSTIN – The Texas Supreme Court will review whether patent agents who advise their inventor clients should be granted the same confidentiality privileges attorneys have with their clients - the first time a state supreme court has taken up the issue.
