Shams Hirji

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Panel Holds that Ohio Aggravated Burglary Statute Does Not Count as Predicate Violent Felony under ACCA. 

Co-authored by: Stephanie A. Darville & Shams H. Hirji About two weeks ago, the Sixth Circuit issued an important decision in United States v. White, No. 21-3209.  Judge White wrote the unanimous opinion for the Court, which was joined by Judge Moore and Judge Bush.  The Court held that an Ohio aggravated-robbery statute, R.C. § 2911.01(A)(1), … Continue Reading

States’ Title X Challenge Returns to Sixth Circuit

Readers of this Blog may recall that, earlier this year, we covered the Sixth Circuit’s decision declining to enjoin (pending appeal) a 2021 Health and Human Services Rule that does two notable things: (1) the Rule eliminates the prior Administration’s requirement “that grantees create strict physical and financial separation between their Title X programs and … Continue Reading

Watch Sixth Circuit Best Practices Webinar

This Wednesday, October 5th, at 1 p.m. EDT, the American Bar Association will be hosting a 1.5 hour webinar discussion of best practices for litigating in the Sixth Circuit. The webinar will feature two sitting Sixth Circuit judges, Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton and Judge Jane B. Stranch. They will be joined by our own … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit Denies Government Emergency Relief in Air Force Vaccine Mandate Case

This past Friday afternoon, the Sixth Circuit dealt a blow to the Department of the Air Force’s efforts to overturn a District Court’s class-wide, preliminary injunction against the Department. Specifically, the Sixth Circuit denied the Department’s emergency motion to stay the District Court’s class-wide injunction. Judge Matthew W. McFarland, of the Southern District of Ohio, … Continue Reading

Potential Sea Change in Sixth Circuit’s Certification of FLSA Collective Actions

A Fair Labor Standards Act case is working its way through the Sixth Circuit and could have serious ramifications for FLSA plaintiffs in the Sixth Circuit.  In this post, we discuss the potential sea change that a decision in In re: A&L Home Care and Training Center, et al. could effect in the Sixth Circuit’s … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit Declines to Enjoin HHS’s Title X Abortion Referral Rule

On February 8, the Sixth Circuit issued an unsigned order declining to enjoin (pending appeal) an HHS rule that does at least two notable things:  (1) the rule eliminates the prior Administration’s requirement “that grantees create strict physical and financial separation between their Title X programs and any abortion services they may provide” and (2) … Continue Reading

Sixth Circuit Awards Attorney Fees to Multiple Qui Tam Relators

Last week, a panel of the Sixth Circuit unanimously greenlighted an award of attorney fees for multiple qui tam relators who had entered into a settlement agreement with the government and defendants under the False Claims Act.  Judge Moore authored the Court’s opinion.  She was joined by Judge Clay and Judge Gibbons. The seven relators … Continue Reading

A Closer Look at the Sixth Circuit’s Decision on the Contractor Mandate

With OSHA’s decision to withdraw its ETS in the face of a hostile Supreme Court, and the Court’s 5-4 decision to uphold the CMS mandate, it’s worth taking a closer look at the Sixth Circuit’s decision to stay the contractor mandate.  Briefing in the Sixth Circuit on the contractor mandate should be finished around March … Continue Reading

OSHA Announces Intent to Withdraw ETS

The saga of the OSHA ETS litigation has (nearly) come to an end.  Yesterday, the DOJ filed a motion in the Sixth Circuit to dismiss as moot all of the consolidated petitions challenging OSHA’s vaccine-or-test mandate.  The DOJ informed the Sixth Circuit that, “[a]fter evaluating the [Supreme] Court’s decision, OSHA decided to withdraw the Vaccination … Continue Reading

The Sixth Circuit Holds Argument on the Tax Mandate

Today, the Sixth Circuit will consider another governmental mandate–this one, a tax mandate–as it hears argument (by video) in a case that pits Ohio once more against the federal government.  The case is Ohio v. Yellen, No. 21-3787.  The panel consists of Judges Griffin, Donald, and Bush.  Argument is expected to start around 9:30.  You … Continue Reading

The OSHA Mandate Decision and the Sixth Circuit

The Supreme Court’s recent per curiam opinion on OSHA’s vaccine-or-test mandate for businesses takes a practical approach to agency power, though the dissent would rather the Court have taken a more practical approach to the pandemic.  The majority opinion holds that while OSHA has power to regulate dangers in the workplace, it cannot use the … Continue Reading

We will miss Judge Merritt

Judge Gilbert S. Merritt Jr. passed away yesterday, on his 86th birthday.  Judge Merritt leaves behind three children, three grandchildren, and a life well-lived in public service. Judge Merritt was born in Nashville, Tennessee on January 17, 1936.  Aside from receiving a B.A. in 1957 from Yale and an L.L.M. from Harvard in 1962, Judge … Continue Reading

The High Court stays the OSHA mandate but upholds the CMS mandate

The decision we’ve all been waiting for finally arrived today.  In two separate opinions, the Supreme Court, as appeared likely from oral argument, stayed the OSHA mandate but declined to stay the CMS mandate. For the OSHA mandate, the Court issued a per curiam opinion chiefly holding that the mandate flunked the major questions doctrine … Continue Reading

Analysis Of The Supreme Court’s Oral Argument Yesterday

After listening to the oral arguments at the Supreme Court, we think the Court will likely issue an administrative stay to delay implementation of the first ETS deadline by Monday, January 10.  U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar admitted that such a stay might be appropriate if the Court needed some breathing space (as it clearly … Continue Reading

The OSHA Mandate — Supreme Court Oral Argument Preview

Tomorrow morning (Friday, January 7), the Supreme Court hears oral argument in the OSHA (10 a.m. EST) and CMS (11 a.m. EST) mandate cases.  (You can listen to the arguments live here.)  For the OSHA mandate, one group of petitioners consists of a coalition of twenty-seven States, led by Ohio, and the other consists of … Continue Reading

The Sixth Circuit Deals Another Blow to the Contractor Mandate

As readers of this Blog know, the OSHA vaccine-or-test mandate has occupied much of the Sixth Circuit’s time the past few weeks.  That mandate is now before the Supreme Court, which hears oral argument on the OSHA and CMS mandates tomorrow.  In the meantime, a third pandemic-era mandate—the federal contractor mandate—made its own splash in … Continue Reading

Supreme Options for OSHA’s Vaccine-or-Test Mandate

In this post, we take a look at the options facing the U.S. Supreme Court as it considers the challengers’ various emergency applications for a stay, several of which were filed just hours after the Sixth Circuit dissolved the Fifth Circuit’s stay of the ETS this past Friday evening (December 17).  At this point, it … Continue Reading
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