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Labor and the Supreme Court: significant issues of 1989-90
Craig Hukill
On October 2, 1989, the Supreme Court opened its 1989 term. If the trend of recent years continues, the Court can be expected to hear arguments in approximately 170 of the more than 5,000 cases in which its review is sought.1 The Court has wide discretion in determining which cases it will hear, and justices need not explain why they have agreed to hear or not hear any particular case, although sometimes they do. Generally, a case is more likely to be reviewed if (1) it raises an issue lower courts have decided in conflicting ways, (2) the lower court has decided an important of Federal law that Supreme Court has not yet had an opportunity to consider, (3) the lower court has decided a Federal question in a way that conflicts with a previous Supreme Court decision, or (4) the case presents an issue so substantial that the Supreme Court decides that its review is required.2
The Court has agreed to hear several labor-related cases in the new term. Although these cases do not present issues as controversial or emotionally charged as many of the labor cases decided in the Court's previous term, they include a wide range of significant labor issues.3
This excerpt is from an article published in the January 1990 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. The full text of the article is available in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). See How to view a PDF file for more information.
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Footnotes
1 See 58 U.S.L.W. 3144 (Aug. 29,
1989); see also, The Supreme Court, 1987 Term—Leading Cases, 102 Harv. L. Rev. 143, 350-58 (1988)
2 See Sup Ct. R. 16, 17.
3 While this article was in preparation, the Court agreed to hear arguments in two more labor cases: Pension benefit Guar. Corp. v. LTV Corp., 875 F.2d 1008 (2d Cir.), cert. granted, 58 U.S.L.W. 3288 (U.S. Oct. 30 1989) (No. 89-390) (raising complicated bankruptcy, labor, and pension issues); and Yellow Freight Sys., Inc. v. Donnelly, 874 F.2d 402 (7th Cir.), cert. granted, 58 U.S.L.W. 3304 (U.S. Oct. 30, 1989) (No. 89-431) (raising the issue of whether Federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction to hear cases under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964).
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