Author Archives CIR

Carvin Files “Corker” of Reply Brief in Obamacare Challenge

Lead Counsel Michael Carvin filed a reply brief in King v. Burwell, one of two cases challenging the Obama Administration’s interpretation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”).  Carvin’s brief urged the Court to promptly review a decision by the Fourth Circuit in which that court held that the

Union Dues Case Snakes Through Ninth Circuit

Lead Counsel Michael Carvin filed two urgent motions in Friedrichs v. CTA intended to speed the case through the Ninth Circuit as quickly as possible.  As Carvin’s team has made clear from the outset of the case, Mrs. Friedrichs and her co-plaintiffs cannot prevail before the lower federal courts because

CIR Goes After Obama “Operation Choke Point”

CIR filed an amicus curiae brief in Community Financial Services Association of America v. FDIC, a suit brought by a group of payday lenders challenging “Operation Choke Point,” a broad investigation of banks and payment processors that do business with businesses deemed “undesirable” by Obama regulators, such as gun dealers,

Challenge to Guam One-Race Plebiscite Moves Forward

A three judge panel heard oral argument in Guam resident Dave Davis’s challenge to that island’s race exclusive plebiscite.  Davis had tried to register to vote in the plebiscite to consider Guam’s future relationship with the US, but was denied because he cannot trace his ancestry to a Chamorro, the

Sixth Circuit grants Amish hair cutters new trial

Today the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision in Miller v. United States, in which CIR client Kathryn Miller and other Amish appealed their convictions under the federal hate crimes law for forcibly shaving the beards and cutting the hair of other Amish.  The federal hate crimes law criminalizes violent

CIR Targets Feds’ “Threatening” Speech Law

Today CIR filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court in the case Elonis v. United States.  CIR notes in its brief that the federal statute under which Elonis was convicted is silent on the question of intent. The brief goes on to point out that courts have been evenly divided

Fourth Circuit Upholds Obamcare — Provides Crucial Split

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the IRS interpretation of Obamacare today in its decision in King v. Burwell.  The decision supports the Administration’s view that it can provide heath insurance subsidies even in states that have elected not to establish state health insurance exchanges.

King v. Burwell 

DC Circuit overrules IRS Obamacare “save”

Today, in Halbig v. Burwell, the DC Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling that had signed off on an IRS interpretation of the Affordable Care Act that made millions of Americans, across 36 states, eligible for health insurance subsidies.  The problem, the DC Circuit held, is that the ACA, under its plain