|
|
Supreme Court Justices' Views on ERISA
"Souter
has complained about life in Washington and even about aspects of the
court's work, such as the numbingly technical cases involving
applications of pension or benefits law."
Ruth Bader-Ginsburg and Sandra Day O'Conner
"At
the end of the October 1993 sitting, I [Ruth Bader Ginsburg] eagerly
awaited my first opinion assignment,expecting-in keeping with
tradition-that the brand-new Justice would be slated for an
uncontroversial, unanimous opinion. When the list came round to me, I
was dismayed. The Chief gave me an intricate, not at all easy, ERISA
case, on which the Court had divided six to three, and Sandra [Day
O'Conner] was among the three. I sought her advice. It was simple:
"Just do it," she said, "and, if you can, circulate your draft opinion
before he makes the next set of assignments. Otherwise, you will risk
receiving another tedious case."
Law
Professor Dana Muir at the University of Michigan has examined
Sotomayor's decisions in five areas of law: antitrust law, securities
law, employment law, patent law, and ERISA law. She concluded
that "Sotomayor proceeds in a methodical way, carefully
utilizing established and structured approaches to statutory
analysis. The one exception...is that Sotomayor's decisions and
opinions...show significant deference to government actors. ERISA
cases where she relied on a variety of Department of Labor authority
illustrate this..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wrap-TightSM
SPDs &
Form 5500s
for
Health & Welfare
Benefit Plans
Call Us:
678-443-4003 or
1-866-488-6582 toll free
|
|
