News

     The Pound Civil Justice Institute today published the proceedings of its 2018 Forum for State Appellate Court Judges, which features CCL's Robert S. Peck as a commentator on Rutgers Law Professor Robert Williams's paper on "State Constitutional Protection of Civil Litigation."

      The book, entitled State Court Protection of Individual Constitutional Rights, transcribes the proceedings of the July 7, 2018 forum that took place in Denver, Colorado, attended by 140 judges from 36 states. In his remarks, Peck talked about the right to trial by jury and the right to a remedy under state constitutions.

      Other speakers at the conference included California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu and Wayne State Law Professor Justin Long.

    A new ordinance, enacted unanimously, requires private contractors wishing to do business with the City of Los Angeles to disclose whether they do business with or offer discounts to the National Rifle Association (NRA). Yahoo Finance interviewed CCL President Robert S. Peck on the ordinance's constitutionality (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/new-los-angeles-says-contractors-must-disclose-nra-ties-224358900.html?ncid=twitter_yfsocialtw|1gbd0nolom).

    Peck explained that disclosure generally does not raise constitutional concerns except where it is likely to cause retribution against the disclosing party or its members. While private contractors have certain First Amendment rights that would prevent a city from discriminating against them because they refuse to support the incumbent political figures, there is a substantial open question about whether a city crosses a constitutional line when it insists on doing business companies that align with a city's public policy priorities, such as those that only use recycled products, Peck told the news source.

   Today, CCL filed an amicus brief for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) in the Ninth Circuit appeal of several California counties and a municipality seeking to hold several oil companies liable for the impact that climate change has had on their communities. 

   The Whitehouse amicus brief specifically responds to a brief previously filed in support of the defendants by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber, claiming to be steadfast in its support for a response to climate change, urged the Ninth Circuit to reverse the District Court and treat the issue as a political question more appropriate to being addressed in the executive and legislative branches. Today's filing points out that the Chamber has consistently opposed climate change policies in the two other branches of government and suggests that the Chamber's amicus brief be discounted because its funding sources are not transparent.