Freedom From Religion Foundation v. New Kensington Arnold S.D. — civil / First Amendment —  reversal in part — Shwartz

For the past 60 years, a public high school in Pennsylvania has a had a granite monument on school grounds inscribed with the Ten Commandments. A student, a parent, and a group dedicated to the separation of church and state sued the school, alleging that the monument violated the Establishment Clause, but the district court dismissed the suit on standing and mootness grounds. Today, the Third Circuit reversed in part, holding that the parent had standing because she had direct contact with the monument and remanding to determine whether the parent was a member of the group.

Joining Shwartz were Smith and Hardiman; Smith concurred dubitante in a lengthy opinion explaining his doubt that a claim for nominal damages should suffice to confer standing or overcome mootness.

Arguing counsel were Marcus Schneider of Steele Schneider for the appellants, Anthony Sanchez for the school district, and Mayer Brown associate Charles Woodworth for amicus.

NLRB v. Fedex Freight — labor — petition denied — Scirica

A group of Fedex Freight drivers voted to unionize but Fedex refused to bargain with them, arguing that another group of employees had to be included, too. The NLRB ruled against Fedex and Fedex filed a petition for review. Today, a divided Third Circuit panel denied the petition for review. Apart from the merits issues, the majority and concurring opinions feature an important back-and-forth about when cursory presentation of an argument in district court will result in waiver on appeal.

Joining Scirica was Ambro; Jordan concurred in part and concurred in the judgment, explaining his view that Fedex waived one of its central arguments below by making it only in passing in a footnote. Arguing counsel were Milakshmi Rajapakse for the NLRB and Ivan Rich Jr. for Fedex.

US v. Stevenson — criminal — affirmance — Hardiman

The Third Circuit today affirmed a criminal defendant’s conviction and sentence, rejecting a series of challenges including his argument that the dismissal of the charges against him for a speedy-trial violation should have been with prejudice, not without. The court also held that indictment defects are subject to harmless error analysis, overruling its own prior precedent based on intervening Supreme Court precedent and splitting with the Ninth Circuit.

Joining Hardiman were Smith and Shwartz. The case was decided without argument.