SCOTUS Myriad Genetics decision a significant shift from status quo
In the Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics
decision, the Supreme Court unanimously held that naturally occurring
DNA sequences are “products of nature” and therefore cannot be patented.
“The Court’s holding represents a significant shift form the status quo,” says Kevin Emerson Collins, JD, patent law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “It reverses both the lower court and twenty years of precedent at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Supreme Court decision closes loophole in Monsanto’s business model
The Supreme Court’s unanimous opinion in Bowman v. Monsanto
holds that farmers who lawfully obtain Monsanto’s patented, genetically
modified soybeans do not have a right to plant those soybeans and grow a
new crop of soybeans without Monsanto’s permission. “The Court closed a
potential loophole in Monsanto’s long-standing business model, prevents
Monsanto’s customers from setting up ‘farm-factories’ for producing
soybeans that could be sold in competition with Monsanto’s soybeans, and
it enables Monsanto to continue to earn a reasonable profit on its
patented technology,” says Kevin Collins, JD, patent law expert and
professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis
Are human genes patentable?
On April 15, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument
in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, a case that
could answer the question, “Under what conditions, if any, are isolated
human genes patentable?” Kevin Emerson Collins, JD, patent law expert
and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, believes
that layered uncertainties make this case an unusually difficult case in
which to predict the outcome.
Supreme Court can strike down DOMA without impacting right to marry, says constitutional law expert
As the U.S. Supreme Court hearings on the Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA) conclude, it looks like the justices are ready to
strike down the law, says Gregory P. Magarian, JD, constitutional law
expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “The
crucial thing about this case is that the Court can strike down DOMA
without impacting the right or lack thereof of someone to marry,” he
says.
SCOTUS oral arguments reflect indifference to constitutional grounding of Voting Rights Act
The Supreme Court appears very likely to strike down the most important provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, says Gregory P. Magarian, JD, constitution law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “This was an unusually revealing oral argument, because two justices asked questions that reflected both fundamental misunderstanding of the law and disturbing indifference to the constitutional grounding of the Voting Rights Act,” he says.
Privacy law expert comments on Bork’s legacy
Robert Bork was a major figure in the history of
American law, and of the Supreme Court, says Neil Richards, JD,
professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis and former law
clerk for Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist. “There is a great irony to Bork’s death this week, a
day after the House of Representatives voted to relax the privacy
protections in the so-called “Bork Bill,” the federal law that protects
the privacy of our video records.”
New book clarifies free speech problems of sign laws
Signs, billboards, and placards are such a familiar
part of the landscape that we often don’t notice them. However, even the
humblest “on premise” sign is protected by the highest law of the land,
the U.S. Constitution’s free speech clause. Daniel R. Mandelker,
the Howard A. Stamper Professor of Law at Washington University in St.
Louis, has set out to help local governments and municipalities
appreciate that fact with his new book, Free Speech Law for On Premises Signs. Published online at ussc.org and landuselaw.wustl.edu, the book will be released in hard copy later this year by the United States Sign Council.
Constitutional law expert and former SCOTUS clerk comments on ACA decision
“I expected the Court to uphold the Affordable Care Act (ACA), however, two elements of this decision are very surprising: the fact that the mandate survives under the taxing power while failing under the Commerce Clause and Necessary and Proper Clause, and the fact that Chief Justice Roberts was in the majority without Justice Kennedy,” says Gregory Magarian, JD, constitutional law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “Roberts’ vote looks to me, as a first impression, like a brilliant piece of judicial strategizing.” Magarian is a former U.S. Supreme Court clerk
for Justice John Paul Stevens.
Health economist discusses how SCOTUS decision impacts ACA implementation
The Supreme Court’s decision today means the implementation of the Affordable Care Act can go forward, thus improving the delivery and affordability of medical care, says Timothy McBride, PhD, health economist and associate dean for public health at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
Exploring the tax aspects of the Affordable Care Act decision
“Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion on the Affordable Care Act mostly conforms with the way I previously understood the taxing power of the federal government,” says Adam Rosenzweig, JD, tax law expert and associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. Rosenzweig says that there were two important pieces of the Roberts opinion from a tax standpoint.
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