SCOTUS Releases December Hearing Schedule

As we say goodbye to the waning days of summer, at least we can anticipate a fall full of Supreme Court fun. In a matter of weeks, the Nine will return to the bench for First Monday.

Until then, let’s get excited about the cases on the December hearing schedule for the 2012 Term. The Court has 10 cases on the docket for the final round of oral arguments in 2012. Below, we’ve laid out the schedule along with the questions presented.

Monday, Nov. 26:

• FTC v. Phoebe Putney Health System -- Examining how federal antitrust laws apply to the state action doctrine.
• Vance v. Ball State University -- Addressing whether the Faragher and Ellerth "supervisor" liability rule applies to harassment by those whom an employer vests with authority to direct and oversee their victim's daily work.

Tuesday, Nov. 27:

• U.S. Airways, Inc. v. McCutchen -- Whether ERISA Section 502(a)(3) authorizes courts to use equitable principles to rewrite contractual language and refuse to order participants to reimburse their plan for benefits paid, even where the plan's terms give it an absolute right to full reimbursement.

Wednesday, Nov. 28:

• Henderson v. United States -- When the governing law is unsettled at the time of trial but settled in the defendant's favor by the time of appeal, should an appellate court reviewing for "plain error" apply Johnson's time-of-appeal standard, or should it apply the Ninth Circuit's time-of-trial standard?

Monday, Dec. 3:

• Genesis HealthCare Corp. v. Symczyk -- Whether a case becomes moot, and thus beyond the judicial power of Article III, when the lone plaintiff receives an offer from the defendants to satisfy all of the plaintiff's claims.
• Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center and Georgia-Pacific West v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center (consolidated) -- May a citizen bypass judicial review of an National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permitting rule and instead challenge the validity of the rule in a citizen suit to enforce the Clean Water Act? Did the Ninth Circuit err when it held that stormwater from logging roads is industrial stormwater under CWA and EPS rules, even though EPA has determined otherwise?

Tuesday, Dec. 4:

• Sebelius v. Auburn Regional Medical Center -- Whether the 180-day statutory time limit for filing an appeal with the Provider Reimbursement Review Board from a final Medicare payment determination made by a fiscal intermediary is subject to equitable tolling.

Wednesday, Dec. 5:

• Chafin v. Chafin -- Does an appeal of a district court's ruling on a Petition for Return of Children pursuant to International Child Abduction Remedies Act and the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction become moot after the child at issue returns to his or her country of habitual residence or do U.S. courts retain jurisdiction.

Related Resources:

• Oh, No He Didn't! Scalia-Posner War of Words Continues (FindLaw's Supreme Court Blog)
• SCOTUS Releases October Hearing Schedule for 2012 Term (FindLaw's Supreme Court Blog)
• 2012 Term: SCOTUS Releases November Hearing Schedule (FindLaw's Supreme Court Blog)