The US Supreme Court [official website] granted certiorari [order list, PDF] in three cases Monday. In Shapiro v. Mack [docket; cert. petition, PDF] the court will hear a challenge to the Three Judge Court Act [28 USC § 2284], which requires the convening of a three-judge district court to decide certain important lawsuits such as those concerning voter redistricting. The court ruled in Goosby v. Osser (1973) [opinion] that a three-judge court is not required when the claim is “insubstantial.” The question before the court is, “May a single-judge district court determine that a complaint covered by 28 USC § 2284 is insubstantial, and that three judges therefore are not required, not because it concludes that the complaint is wholly frivolous, but because it concludes that the complaint fails to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) [text]?”

In Luis v. United States [docket; cert. petition, PDF] the court will determine “whether the pretrial restraint of a criminal defendant’s legitimate, untainted assets (those not traceable to a criminal offense) needed to retain counsel of choice violates the Fifth and Sixth Amendments.” There is a circuit split on the issue.

In Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo [docket; cert. petition, PDF] the court is asked to address two questions:

1. Whether differences among individual class members may be ignored and a class action certified under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3) [text], or a collective action certified under the Fair Labor Standards Act [materials], where liability and damages will be determined with statistical techniques that presume all class members are identical to the average observed in a sample.
2. Whether a class action may be certified or maintained under Rule 23(b)(3), or a collective action certified under the Fair Labor Standards Act, when the class contains hundreds of members who were not injured and have no legal right to any damages.