On February 7, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that California’s Proposition 8, which limits marriage to heterosexual couples in the state, is unconstitutional.
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On December 2, 2011, CAC filed an amicus curiae brief in the Supreme Court arguing that the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment, applied to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, does not permit the government to subject a criminal defendant to a second trial for the same serious charges of which a jury has acquitted him, simply because the jury deadlocked on a lesser-included offense.
On January 30, 2012, CAC filed a brief in support of Supreme Court review of Chaidez’s petition for certiorari in this important case which raises the question of whether the protections against constitutionally deficient assistance of counsel applied in the Supreme Court’s Padilla v. Kentucky ruling apply retroactively. The brief argues that Padilla did not announce a “new rule” that imposes new obligations on the States and federal government, and thus should be applied retroactively.
On September 27, 2011, CAC, along with co-counsel Skadden, Arps, filed an amicus curiae brief in the Supreme Court supporting the petitioner, Daniel Coleman. At issue in this case is whether Congress has the authority under the Fourteenth Amendment to subject states to suit in federal court for violation of the self-care provision of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), abrogating the states’ Eleventh Amendment immunity.
On December 8, 2011, CAC filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Shelby County v. Holder. Shelby County involves a constitutional challenge to the preclearance provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), which requires certain jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination in voting to obtain federal permission before altering their voting laws or regulations.
As the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, CAC represents more than 500 State legislators from every one of the fifty States, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, who believe the Act is constitutional and respects constitutional principles of federalism. CAC has filed briefs on behalf of these elected state leaders on the constitutionality of the Act’s minimum coverage provision and the Act’s expansion of Medicaid.