16 Q3 - 2017 www.ParalegalToday.com
“The October 2017 term is stacked
with high-profile cases touching
subjects from religious freedom to
labor law to immigration, including
the infamous travel ban.”
ALL RISE
Welcome to the inaugural edition of All Rise, Paralegal
Today’s quarterly column covering developments at
the Supreme Court of the United States. In this issue,
we cover the October 2017 term, which is stacked with
high-profile cases touching subjects from religious
freedom to labor law to the infamous §2(c) of Executive
Order No. 13,280 (known colloquially in the media as the
“travel ban”). With Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch settled
into his position on the bench, Court watchers have an
exciting and potentially pivotal term ahead.
The Court will be hearing two arguments on its first day back in session,
the first of which is the consolidated matters of Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis
(No. 16-285), Ernst & Young LLP v. Morris (No. 16-300), and National Labor
Relations Board v. Murphy Oil USA (No. 16-307), which examine whether
arbitration agreements between employers and individual employees
barring those employees from later pursuing work-related claims in a
collective or class basis in any forum are permissible under the Federal
BySarah R. Coats, MPS, RP
Arbitration Act and National Labor Relations Act.
Interestingly, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG)
initially filed a petition in support of the National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB), defending NLRB’s position
that agreements such as these are unenforceable. In a
surprise move last June, the OSG changed its position
and filed an amicus brief in support of the employers
in these cases. Acting Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall
acknowledged the previous brief in support of NLRB and
stated, “Since the change of administration, the Office
reconsidered the issue and has reached the opposite
conclusion.” NLRB subsequently filed its own brief after
Wall granted official permission for it to proceed in its
own defense.
Prepare to hear the term “plenary power” a lot this
term, especially in the immigration context. Federal
policy around immigration is built on the foundational
belief that the legislative and executive branches
are solely responsible for regulating all aspects of
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