The Law Reporter's "Summary U.S. Supreme Court Actions" section contains summaries of cases that the Supreme Court has vacated or has denied, granted, or dismissed certiorari.

Sample of Cases from U.S. Supreme Court from January / February 2008 Issue

Review Granted

Indiana v. Edwards, No. 07-208, ruling below, Edwards v. Indiana, 866 N.E.2d 252 (Ind. Sup. Ct. 2007), 31 MPDLR 550, cert. granted, 128 S. Ct. 741 (2007). The Court granted review to consider whether states may adopt a higher standard for measuring competency to represent oneself at trial than for measuring competency to stand trial. The Indiana Supreme Court found that a trial court committed reversible error by denying the request of a defendant with schizophrenia to waive counsel because a defendant found competent to stand trial has a Sixth Amendment right to proceed pro se.

Review Denied

Alexandria City Sch. Bd. v. A.K., No. 07-541, ruling below, A.K. v. Alexandria City Sch. Bd., 484 F.3d 672 (4th Cir. 2007), 31 MPDLR 654, cert. denied, 2008 WL 169506 (Jan. 22, 2008). The Court let stand a divided Fourth Circuit held that a school district failed under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. §1400 et seq., to offer a free appropriate public education to a middle school special education student with semantic pragmatic language disorder, Asperger’s syndrome, and obsessive compulsive disorder because its proposed individualized education program did not identify a particular school where the student would be educated, stating instead that an unspecified private day school would be appropriate.

Board of Educ. of Fayette County, Ky. v. L.M. ex rel. T.D., No. 07-465, ruling below, 478 F.3d 307 (6th Cir. 2007), 31 MPDLR 472, cert. denied, 128 S. Ct. 693 (2007). The Court declined to review a Sixth Circuit decision remanding for reconsideration the Exceptional Children’s Appeals Boards’ compensatory education award to a Kentucky elementary school student with behavioral and academic problems, which was approved by the federal district court, and, reversed the hearing officer’s award of 125 hours of compensatory education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. §1400 et seq., in favor of a more flexible determination of appropriate compensatory education to be fashioned by the Kentucky equivalent of the student’s individualized education program (IEP) team. The appeals court determined, in agreement with Reid v. District of Columbia, 401 F.3d 516 (D.C. Cir. 2005), that neither a hearing officer nor an appeals board may delegate to a child’s IEP team the power to reduce or terminate a compensatory education award. 

CSX Transp., Inc. v. Brotherhood of Maint. of Way Employees, No. 07-131, ruling below, Brotherhood of Maint. of Way Employees v. CSX Transp., Inc., 478 F.3d 814 (7th Cir. 2007), 31 MPDLR 622, cert. denied, 2008 WL 114029 (Jan. 14, 2008). The Court let stand a Seventh Circuit ruling holding that §2612 of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), 29 U.S.C. §2601 et seq., which authorizes employers to substitute an employee’s paid leave for unpaid leave under the FMLA, did not abrogate the provision of the Railway Labor Act that forbids carriers from making unilateral changes to collective bargaining agreements, in particular railroad workers’ right to decide when and how to use their leave.

D.P. ex rel. E.P. v. School Bd. of Broward County, Fla., No. 07-613, ruling below, 483 F.3d 725 (11th Cir. 2007), 31 MPDLR 474, cert. denied, 2008 WL 114053 (Jan. 14, 2008). The Court denied review of an Eleventh Circuit decision that triplets, who aged out of early intervention services pursuant to their individualized family service plans when they turned three years old, were not entitled to the continuation of these services as a pendency placement under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. §1400 et seq.

Parra v. Astrue, No. 07-408, ruling below, 481 F.3d 742 (9th Cir. 2007), 31 MPDLR 343, cert. denied, 2008 WL 114040 (Jan. 14, 2008). The Court declined to review a Ninth Circuit opinion, in a case of first impression, that when evidence exists of drug or alcohol abuse, a claimant bears the burden of proof that the substance abuse is not a material contributing factor to the disability. In this case, the claimant failed to show that the disabling effects of cirrhosis would have existed had he stopped drinking before his disability insurance lapsed.

Walton v. U.S. Marshals Serv., No. 07-405, ruling below, 492 F.3d 998 (9th Cir. 2007), 31 MPDLR 242, cert. denied, 128 S. Ct. 879 (2008). The Court let stand a Ninth Circuit ruling that a former court security officer for the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) was not disabled under the Rehabilitation Act §501, 29 U.S.C. §791 et seq. The appeals court found that USMS’s finding that she did not meet hearing standards, standing alone, did not demonstrate that USMS regarded her as substantially limited in the major life activities of hearing and working, and that in any event the inability to localize sound is mitigated by visual localization.

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