Supreme Court to rule on union subsidies, state sovereignty News
Supreme Court to rule on union subsidies, state sovereignty

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court on Tuesday granted certiorari [order list, PDF] in four cases. The court will rule on Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin v. United States [docket; cert petition, PDF] and decide whether the D.C. Circuit misapplied the Supreme Court’s Holland v. Florida [opinion] decision when it ruled that the Menominee Tribe was not entitled to tolling of the statute of limitations for filing of Indian Self-Determination Act [text] claims for unpaid contract support costs under the Contract Disputes Act [text].

The court will also decide Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association [docket; cert petition, PDF], which considers the First Amendment constitutionality of a California law that requires public school teachers to financially contribute to the teacher’s union, and also requires those teachers to subsidize union expenses unrelated to collective bargaining unless a teacher affirmatively objects and renews that objection in writing annually.

The court will rule on Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. v. Manning [docket; cert petition, PDF] and resolve the circuit split on whether Section 27 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 [text, PDF] provides federal jurisdiction over state-law claims based on violations or desired enforcement of the Act. The Fifth and Ninth Circuits have held that the Act does provide federal jurisdiction, while the Second and Third Circuits have held that it does not.

Lastly, the court will decide Franchise Tax Board of California v. Hyatt [docket; cert petition, PDF], which deals with the issue of whether Nevada may refuse to give the same immunities to other states brought into Nevada court that Nevada itself enjoys. The court will also rule on the state sovereignty issue of whether Nevada v. Hall [opinion] , a case that held a state may be hauled into court by another state without its consent, should be overruled.