Summary: This week the court issued granted certiorari, review, to four new cases and will hear four cases in oral arguments this week. No opinions were issued. We begin with a review of the oral arguments this week in First American Financial Corp. v. Edwards, which concerns the extent to which consumers can sue to enforce federal consumer protection laws where the consumer has not suffered quantifiable damages (an injury-in-fact) for standing purposes. We next review two cases granted certiorari on November 14th which were overshadowed by the health care cases granted certiorari the same week. We start with the Supreme Court's decision to hear the case of Armour v. Indianapolis, which concerns whether the City of Indianapolis could properly choose to reimburse some taxpayers, mostly low and middle income taxpayers, and not others, mostly wealthier taxpayers, for payments into a funding program that was ultimately canceled - or whether such discriminatory treatment violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Finally, we review the Court's grant of certiorari in Astrue v. Capato, wherein the Court will determine whether the Third Circuit Court of Appeals was correct in its statutory interpretation when it held that a child conceived nearly a year after its father's death by way of in-vitro fertilization could qualify for survivor benefits under the Social Security Act. ORAL ARGUMENT TRANSCRIPTS AND AUDIO (click to download) First American Financial Corp. v. Edwards (10-708) Audio Transcript GRANTS OF CERTIORARI (November 14th) (click on case name to download lower court decision) Armour v. Indianapolis (Indiana Supreme Court) Astrue v. Capato (Third Circuit)
