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JULY
UHLC FACULTY PROVIDES ROUNDUP ON SUPREME SCOTUS JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR CITES AMICUS BRIEF
COURT CO-AUTHORED BY UHLC PROFESSOR RAVE
Faculty members discussed a case involving religious freedom, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor cited the work of
immigration issues and other topics at the U.S. Supreme Court Update University of Houston Law Center Assistant Professor D. Theodore
at the University of Houston Law Center. Rave in her dissenting opinion in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior
Assistant Professor James Nelson began the discussion with an analysis Court of California, San Francisco County.
of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer. The case involved 86 California residents and 592 non-resident
The case centered on an application by the Trinity Lutheran Church plaintiffs who sued Bristol-Myers Squibb over alleged injuries from the
of Columbia to resurface its playground at the church’s preschool and drug Plavix. Bristol-Myers Squibb argued that, despite selling millions
daycare center. of Plavix pills in California, the California state court did not have the
jurisdiction to preside over claims from the 592 non-residents because
“Missouri had a grant program which allowed non-profit organizations their alleged injuries were not “caused by” the company’s California
to apply to the state for funds so that they can resurface their playground contacts.
with recycled tires,” Nelson said. “It also had a policy in the grant
program of categorically denying any funds to churches or other similar Rave’s brief argued that requiring the strict causal connection between
religious organizations. the plaintiffs’ claims and the defendant’s contacts with the state that
Bristol-Myers Squibb advocated could cause uncertainty and undermine
“Trinity Lutheran Church applied for a grant to convert its gravel settled expectations about jurisdiction in both simple and complex cases
playground to the recycled tire surface, and not surprisingly it was in federal and state courts. It also argued that Bristol-Myers Squibb’s
denied funding on the basis of Missouri’s policy and was denied funding proposal would be inconsistent with the court’s seminal 1945 decision
despite the fact that it had finished fifth among 44 applicants in the on jurisdiction in International Shoe Co. v. Washington, and urged the
scoring process. The top 14 qualified for funds, and had it not been a court to reject a strict causation test.
church, it would have qualified for the funds.” The Supreme Court reversed and remanded the judgment of the
In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Missouri’s policy toward California court in an 8-1 decision delivered by Justice Samuel Alito on
religious institutions was discriminatory. June 19. Although the court held that courts in California did not have
“The church filed suit and claimed its exclusion from the grant program the proper jurisdiction to adjudicate claims by the out-of-state plaintiffs,
violated the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. The free it did not adopt Bristol-Myers Squibb’s proposed causation rule, as
exercise clause forbids laws that prohibit the free exercise of religion,” Sotomayor pointed out in dissent, citing Rave’s brief.
Nelson said. “The Supreme Court in this case held that Missouri’s policy
of excluding churches from the grant program was unconstitutional and HOUSTON-BASED FOUNDATION AWARDS MAJOR
violated the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.” GRANT TO UHLC’S PROGRAM TO AID AT-RISK YOUTH
The second speaker was Clinical Associate Professor Geoffrey A. The University of Houston Law
Hoffman, who discussed the recent attempts at a travel ban along Center’s Juvenile & Capital
with citizenship and immigration cases. Hoffman, director of the Law Advocacy Project was recently
Center’s Immigration Clinic, recounted when he helped immigrants awarded a $100,000 grant from
affected by the ban by volunteering at George Bush Intercontinental The Simmons Foundation to
Airport in late January. support its record-sealing program
“I felt like I was in a moment of history,” Hoffman said. “I spent from and to develop a program for dual-
11 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the airport. It was quite an experience. Protestors status youth.
arrived in the afternoon, and Terminal E was completely flooded with Dual-status youth — often referred
people. It was very dramatic.” to as “crossover youth” — are
The session concluded with a general discussion about the October 2016 children who are simultaneously
Supreme Court Term with Professor Peter Linzer and Josh Blackman, involved in the juvenile justice
an associate professor at the South Texas College of Law Houston. system and foster care system;
Attendees received 2.75 hours of continuing legal education credit. they suffer from histories of abuse
and neglect. Without appropriate
and targeted interventions and
Katya Dow specialized legal representation,
18 Briefcase 2018