Filed State Amicus Briefs 2009 AG Zoeller
Case Name Case No. Stage Authoring State Join Deadline Case Summary (or position of Indiana in brief) Joined?
Briscoe v. Virginia 07-11191 SCOTUS Amicus (Resp.)
Argument 1/11/10		 Mass & IN Submitted 11/2/09 (1) Did the petitioners waive their Confrontation Clause rights by failing to make a demand that the prosecution produce a forensic analyst for trial? (2) Does the Confrontation Clause require the prosecution to present the testimony of prosecution witnesses during the prosecution’s case in chief and preclude exhibits from being introduced before the witness’s live testimony? Co-Authoring
Hemi Group, LLC v. City of New York 08-969 SCOTUS Amicus (Resp.)
Argued 11/3/09 		IN Submitted 9/23/09 Whether a city government meets the RICO standing requirement that a plaintiff be directly injured in its “business or property” by alleging non-commercial injury resulting from non-payment of taxes by non-litigant third parties. Authoring
Pottawattamie County, Iowa v. McGhee 08-1065 SCOTUS Amicus (Pet.)
Argued 11/4/09		 CO 7/16/09 Whether a prosecutor may be subjected to a civil trial and potential damages for a wrongful conviction and incarceration where the prosecutor allegedly (1) violated a criminal defendant’s 'substantive due process' rights by procuring false testimony during … Yes
NRA v. City of Chicago 08-1497 SCOTUS Cert TX 7/6/09 Whether the right of the people to keep and bear arms guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is incorporated into the Due Process Clause or the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment so as to be applicable … Yes
Perdue v. Kenny A. 08-970 SCOTUS Merits AL 6/24/09 Whether a reasonable attorney’s fee award under a federal fee-shifting statute can ever be enhanced based solely on quality of performance and results obtained when these factors already are included in the lodestar calculation. Yes
United States v. Stevens 08-769 SCOTUS Merits FL 6/12/09 At issue is whether the federal statute making it unlawful to create, sell, or possess, for commercial gain, a depiction of a live animal being intentionally wounded, tortured, or killed is facially invalid under the First Amendment. Yes
Salazar v. Buono 08-472 SCOTUS Cert IN 6/8/09 1. Whether respondent has standing to maintain this action where he has no objection to the public display of a cross, but instead is offended that the public land on which the cross is located is not also an open forum on which other persons might display other symbols. 2. Whether, even assuming respondent has standing, the court of appeals erred in refusing to give effect to the Act of Congress providing for the transfer of the land to private hands. Authored
Alvarez v. Smith, et al 08-361 SCOTUS Merits IL 5/15/09 At issue is whether the court of appeals properly invalidated Illinois’ Drug Asset Forfeiture Procedure Act because the Act does not provide for a prompt “probable cause to detain” hearing between the seizure and the initiation of forfeiture proceedings Yes
Zurich American Insurance Co. v. Lexington Coal Co., LLC 08-1254 SCOTUS Cert MI 5/11/09 The petition seeks review of a Sixth Circuit decision holding that a party that agreed to provide a benefit to the Debtor during its Chapter 11 proceeding could not receive administrative status (and thus a right to full payment) for payments that come due after confirmation (or liquidation). Yes
Avinash Rangra et al v. Brown, DA; Abbott, TX AG 06-51587 US 5th Cir LA 5/8/09 Rangra would subject Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi Open Meetings Laws to strict scrutiny as content-based speech regulations under the First Amendment. It would also be the first-of-its-kind precedent for subjecting any other State’s open meetings law to that rigorous constitutional justification, contrary to the decisions of at least three state supreme courts. Thus, it is in the States’ interests to urge the Fifth Circuit to rehear the case and correct the panel’s erroneous decision. Yes
Maryland v. Shatzer 08-680 SCOTUS Cert FL 4/17/09 The question presented is: Is the Edwards v. Arizona prohibition against interrogation of a suspect who has invoked the Fifth Amendment right to counsel inapplicable if, after the suspect asks for counsel, there is a break in custody or a substantial lapse in time (more than two years and six months) before commencing reinterrogation pursuant to Miranda? Yes
Cuomo v. Clearing House Assn. 08-453 SCOTUS Merits NC 3/3/09 At issue is whether the National Bank Act, which prohibits states from exercising “visitorial powers” over national banks except in certain specified situations, preempts state enforcement of state laws against national banks even when the state laws are not substantively preempted. Yes
Weigel v. Broad, et al 08-1128 SCOTUS Cert IN 2/27/09 The petition will seek review of a Tenth Circuit decision that denied qualified immunity to police officers who were sued under Section 1983 for using excessive force. The petition will argue that the Tenth Circuit decision failed to apply the criteria set forth in Scott v. Harris and wrongly held that proactive training on the risks of a particular law enforcement technique amount to clearly established law that the technique is unlawful. Authored
Rivera v. The People of the State of Illinois 07-9995 SCOTUS Merits FL 1/26/09 Whether the erroneous denial of a criminal defendant's peremptory challenge that resulted in the challendged juror being seated requires automatic reversal of a conviction. Yes