The Texas Citizens Participation Act has helped media defendants and public advocates fight meritless lawsuits aimed at intimidating them into silence. Now, legislators are reviewing the anti-SLAPP law’s automatic stay of trial proceedings during an interlocutory appeal of a motion to dismiss. Critics of the 2011 law say it is too broadly written, allowing unscrupulous defendants to delay cases that have nothing to do with free speech. The high-stakes battle is playing out at the Capitol where supporters from across the political landscape face off against powerful business interests — with observers wondering if a compromise is possible.
SCOTUS Asks Stephen Hammer to Defend Federal Appeals’ Court Ruling in Immigration Case
A fourth-year associate in the Dallas office of Gibson Dunn will make his first oral argument at the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday by defending a ruling by a lower court that neither the U.S. Justice Department nor the defendant in the case believe was correct. The nation’s highest court appointed Stephen Hammer, a former clerk to U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts and a military veteran, to argue the merits of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit’s opinion about appellate filing deadlines related to removal orders if the defendant claims he will be killed or tortured if he is deported.
Justices Dig Into Preemption Issue in Boeing, Southwest Airlines Pilots Association Case
The crux of the case is whether the Railway Labor Act preempts the claims brought by SWAPA. Boeing says it does because deciding the case requires interpretation of the collective bargaining agreement between Southwest Airlines and its pilots. SWAPA says the RLA does not preempt its suit because the act only applies to claims between airline carriers and employees, and Boeing is not either of those.