Congress passed the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 which required Presidential appointees to federal agencies to be confirmed by the Senate. President Obama sought to avoid the confirmation process by installing his permanent nominees as “acting” officers. This particular case arises from his appointment of Lafe Solomon as acting General Counsel to the National Labor Relations Board. AEF and its partner, Washington Legal Foundation, argued in support of upholding the DC Circuit’s opinion which held that permitting a permanent appointment to begin work as an “acting” appointment...

AEF has been active in fighting to uphold the integrity of the legal system and has consistently opposed the forum shopping practices of the plaintiffs’ bar, which often results in excessive judgments or forced settlements which are passed on to the general public. Bristol-Myers Squibb v. Superior Court involves an appeal by AEF and its partner, Washington Legal Foundation, from what AEF feels is a misguided California Supreme Court decision which extends California jurisdiction over an out-of-state defendant in violation of a previous U.S. Supreme Court decision (Daimler Ag v. Bauman). T...

In the case of “al Bahlul v. United States” the DC Circuit Court upheld the right of the federal government to try an al Qaeda terrorist by military tribunal and rejected the petitioner’s challenge to his conviction. Petitioner claimed that his conviction on conspiracy charges was a violation of international law because there is no crime of conspiracy in international law. The court held the conviction was in accordance with the U.S. Constitution which empowers Congress, not international law, with defining what offenses violate the law of war. The amici curiae brief filed by the Allied...

Approximately 15 million civil cases are filed each year in the United States. The purpose of filing a civil case is to seek an award, often money, for “torts” or harms suffered by an individual, group, business or organization from an individual, group, business, or organization. Awards or “damages” can either be compensatory, reimbursing you for an amount lost, and/or punitive, to punish the offender and prevent them from harming again. Civil cases may be more likely than criminal cases to result in an award since evidence of intentional harm is not necessary and only a “prepondera...

In the case of MetLife, Inc v. Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), the Allied Educational Foundation and its partner, Washington Legal Foundation, have filed a brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in support of MetLife”s challenge to its designation of “Too Big to Fail” by the FSOC, which was created under the Dodd-Frank Act. MetLife is an insurance company that does not engage in any high risk activity that contributed to the 2008 financial collapse. By being designated as “Too Big to Fail”, MetLife is now subject to unnecessary government control and ...

In the case of Ohio Democratic Party v. Husted, the Sixth Circuit Appeals Court upheld the position advocated by the Allied Educational Foundation and its partner, Judicial Watch, that a State has the right to control its early voting rules. Ohio had reduced its early voting period from 35 to 29 days which the Democratic Party had challenged as discriminatory against minorities. This is a ridiculous position since nearly a third of the States do not permit early voting and various studies indicate that early voting (as distinguished from absentee balloting) may increase voter fraud, confuse vo...

The Allied Educational Foundation suffered a setback in its battle against corruption by governmental officials when the Supreme Court threw out the corruption conviction of former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. McDonnell was convicted of granting political favors to a Richmond businessman in exchange for golf outings, lavish vacations and $120,000 in loans. The conviction was upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, but the Supreme Court agreed with former Governor McDonnell’s argument that the federal statutes penalizing bribery and extortion were unconstituti...

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a decision by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that would have permitted private plaintiffs to sue for money damages under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) for injuries allegedly suffered abroad. By clarifying that a private Rico plaintiff must be able to allege and prove a domestic injury, the decision in RJR Nabisco, Inc v. The European Community sharply reduces claims brought under RICO for overseas activity that has little or no connection to the United States. The decision marks another victory for the Allied Edu...

In a 4-3 decision, the Supreme Court in Fisher v. University of Texas upheld the University of Texas’ practice of giving admission preferences based upon race and ethnicity. The Allied Educational Foundation and its partner in this case, Judicial Watch, argued that race-based admissions policies are irrational, destructive and are based on illegitimate racial theories. The decision promotes the notion of racial inequality, is racially inflammatory and undermines the rule of law. We believe that preferences based on ra...

AEF is pleased to report a victory in the Oregon high court in the case of Rains v. Stayton Builders Mart, inc., in which we partnered with the Washington Legal Foundation. The court held that the Oregon State Legislature could impose reasonable limits on "non-economic" damage in a tort action (such as pain and suffering and punitive damages). Why is this important? The moving party trying to eliminate limits on judgments is the plaintiffs' bar because plaintiffs’ lawyers generally get paid a large contingency fee and seek to maximize jury awards and their resulting l...