NFIB is involved in several Supreme Court cases during the 2014 term.
The Supreme Court is set to hear nearly a dozen cases in which the NFIB Small Business Legal Center will be participating during the 2014 term. This year’s term began on Oct. 6. Here’s a preview from the Legal Center’s docket:
In Yates v. United States, the Supreme Court must decide whether John Yates, a fisherman who threw back three undersized fish against the orders of a state official, should be criminally prosecuted and imprisoned under the document-shredding provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a law intended to stop corporate fraud that has nothing to do with the protection of wildlife. In its brief, the NFIB Small Business Legal Center argued that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was never intended to attack Americans for crimes unrelated to the destruction of records or documents.
The court will hear challenges to two states’ unconstitutional tax schemes: In Maryland v. Wynne, the court will decide whether states must provide a credit against their own taxes for taxes a resident pays to another state. Maryland allows such a credit against its state income tax but not against its local county and city income taxes. In Direct Marketing Association v. Brohl, the court will consider a challenge to a Colorado law that requires out-of-state retailers to provide confidential data on sales they make to customers in the state.
In Mach Mining v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the court will decide whether the EEOC is required to engage in good faith settlement discussions prior to suing a business for discrimination. In its brief, the Small Business Legal Center told the court that the EEOC’s aggressive “sue first and settle later” strategy is bad policy and directly contravenes Congress’ intent to keep employment disputes out of court.
In addition to these pending cases, the Legal Center has filed briefs in several other cases. For the latest information, visit NFIB’s Legal Center.
