Case at a Glance

When determining whether a “community spouse” (a spouse who has not been placed in an institution such as a nursing home) is entitled to shelter resources in excess of the standard resource allowance, Wisconsin first considers whether potential income transfers from the institutionalized spouse will be sufficient to provide for the community spouse’s monthly needs once Medicaid eligibility is met. The Court is now asked to decide whether this procedure conflicts with the federal Medicaid Act.

• Previewed by Jay E. Grenig, co-author of West’s Federal Jury Practice and Instructions (5th edition) and a professor of law at Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee, Wisc.

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Case at a Glance

A group of drug-law reform activists challenged the constitutionality of park-permit rules after being denied a permit to conduct a public rally in Chicago’s Grant Park. The activists contend that the city’s rules lack the procedural safeguards necessary to protect First Amendment freedoms. The case could affect the viability of permit and licensing laws all across the country in a variety of contexts.

• Previewed by David L. Hudson, an attorney with the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

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Case at a Glance

The City of Los Angeles amended its zoning ordinance to prohibit “multiple-use” adult businesses. The amendment prohibits “adult bookstores” from containing video-viewing booths for its patrons. Two businesses that both sell adult magazines and provide viewing booths contend that the city has no evidence that their stand-alone businesses cause the harmful “secondary effects” that the city invoked as the primary justification for its amendment.

• Previewed by David L. Hudson, an attorney with the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.

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Case at a Glance

The EEOC favors the priority reassignment of disabled workers as a reasonable accommodation, and in this case the Ninth Circuit held that the ADA requires an employer to reassign a disabled employee to a vacant position as a reasonable accommodation if necessary to retain the employee. Now the Supreme Court has agreed to consider U.S. Airway’s argument that reassignment is not required when it would conflict with a bona fide seniority policy.

• Previewed by Michael Kurs, an attorney who practices in the areas of health care, administrative law, and litigation in the Hartford, Conn., office of Pullman & Comley, LLC.

Supreme Court Decision: Click to read decision

Case at a Glance

This 1996 Telecommunications Act case is one of a tandem that pits state regulators against industry and the U.S. government. The regulators say the Act and the Constitution's sovereign-immunity provision bar companies from challenging agency enforcement of interconnection contracts in court. The industry and government maintain that the law allows court challenges and that regulators waive their immunity from being sued when they choose to participate in the federal law's regulatory program.

• Previewed by Steve Lash, a Potomac, Md., lawyer who has written extensively on the U.S. Supreme Court for numerous publications.

Supreme Court Decision: Click to read decision

Case at a Glance

This 1996 Telecommunications Act case is the second case this month that pits state regulators against industry and the U.S. government. The regulators say the Act bars companies from challenging agency enforcement of interconnection contracts in federal court. The industry and government say another law, which enables U.S. courts to hear cases arising under federal statutes, allows judicial challenges.

• Previewed by Steve Lash, a Potomac, Md., lawyer who has written extensively on the U.S. Supreme Court for numerous publications.

Supreme Court Decision: Click to read decision