The U.S. Supreme Court, October Term 2022

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court holds its first conference of the October 2022 Term. The term will officially open next week on the first Monday of October. To help readers keep track of petitions and cases raising interesting questions about transnational litigation, we are pleased to announce our new Supreme Court page.

At today’s conference, the Justices will consider a large number of petitions for certiorari and decide which cases to hear. TLB is following eight cert petitions, described in Emma White’s post from August, which we have reposted today. For three of these petitions, the Justices have already called for the views of the Solicitor General, an invitation known as a “CVSG.” Those three petitions involve immunity for corporations that act as agents of foreign governments; whether a foreign state is immune from suit for using force against protesters in Washington D.C.; and the extraterritorial reach of the federal trademark statute. The Solicitor General has so far responded only in the last of these cases, recommending that the Court grant cert in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., a brief we discussed on Monday.

The other five petitions we are following involve the application of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act to criminal cases; international comity abstention in antitrust cases; the liability of social media companies under the Antiterrorism Act; whether forum non conveniens is available in an action to confirm an arbitral award; and the President’s authority to impose sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. All five petitions are scheduled for today’s conference, though the Justices could decide to “relist” them for a subsequent conference (postponing the decision to grant or deny) or call for the views of the Solicitor General.

We hope our Supreme Court page and coverage of the October Term 2022 will prove useful to our readers.