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Same-sex marriage and other Supreme Court cases dominated LXBN this week

As I’ve remarked in a number of introductions to Top 10 roundups, LXBN members have grown increasingly more impressive in their ability to provide quick and strong analysis on the U.S. Supreme Court. This week may mark the Network’s strongest period ever for such coverage as we’ve seen a remarkable level of commentary on a number of cases. Without further adieu, here’s this week’s all-SCOTUS Trending on LXBN:

  • Though the coverage on same-sex marriage isn’t as deep as I’d like considering the profound impact of the case, it is somewhat expected considering its sensitive nature. Nonetheless, we do have some interesting commentary on both Hollingsworth v. Perry (the Prop 8 case) and United States v. Windsor (the DOMA suit). Among that, we actually spoke with Ted Olson—who’s representing the plaintiffs in Hollingsworth—at LegalTech. We’ll have a quick breakdown of the oral arguments in each tomorrow on LXBN TV.
  • Receiving a bit more coverage—actually a startling level of coverage—is Comcast v. Behrend. In the case, the Supreme Court reversed the certification of a class of Comcast customers in Philadelphia because the class failed to proved that damages could be determined on a classwide basis.
  • Next up, in a case decided last week, we have the interesting and quite funny Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., in which Taiwanees immigrant Suadp Kirtsaeng made $1.2 million by having his Thai friends and family cheap English-language textbooks that he’d sell at a marked-up price on eBay. The Court found that first sale defense of the Copyright Act, which says a copyright owner’s interest is exhausted after the first sale, does also apply to goods sold internationally.
  • Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center was also decided last week by the Supreme Court. In this case, the Supreme Court backed the Environmental Protection Agency’s view that stormwater runoff from logging roads is not a form of water pollution that needs a permit. This was a big victory for the timber industry.

This is by no means all of the Supreme Court cases discussed on LXBN this week. Be sure to visit our full U.S. Supreme Court section to see everything.

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