affirmative-defense
60 cases — ← All topics
| Case | Title | Lower Court | Docketed | Status | Flags | Tags | Question Presented |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25-6884 | Abdullahi Said Ali v. City of Portland, Oregon | Oregon | 2026-02-24 | Pending | IFP | affirmative-defense constitutional-rights firearm-regulation historical-tradition licensing-regime second-amendment | Does a city ordinance that prohibits carrying a loaded firearm in public, but permits a defendant to raise an affirmative defense that the defendant h… |
| 25A586 | Jonathan Harrelson v. Mississippi | Mississippi | 2025-11-18 | Application | affirmative-defense age-of-consent criminal-intent minor-victim prosecutorial-misconduct statutory-rape | Question not identified. | |
| 25-439 | Karl Tobien v. Nationwide General Insurance Company | Sixth Circuit | 2025-10-10 | Denied | affirmative-defense burden-of-proof civil-procedure legal-standard non-patent-case venue | Whether a defendant who raises the affirmative defense of improper venue in a non-patent case bears the burden of proving that venue is improper. | |
| 25-352 | Jasmine Younge v. Fulton Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, Georgia | Eleventh Circuit | 2025-09-24 | Pending | Response Requested | affirmative-defense civil-procedure federal-rules judicial-discretion pleading-rules summary-judgment | Where a defendant has filed an answer without pleading an affirmative defense, may the defendant nonetheless assert that affirmative defense as the ba… |
| 25-5710 | Philip Alejandro Powers, III v. United States | Ninth Circuit | 2025-09-23 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | affirmative-defense criminal-act criminal-law greater-evil justification-doctrine necessity-defense | Should a person who is compelled to commit a criminal act in order to avert a greater evil be denied the protection of the necessity defense if he cou… |
| 25-271 | United States, ex rel. Mark J. O'Connor, et al. v. USCC Wireless Investment, Inc., et al. | District of Columbia | 2025-09-09 | Denied | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) | affirmative-defense civil-procedure false-claims-act materiality public-disclosure qui-tam | 1. Whether the D.C. Circuit erred by requiring plaintiffs to anticipate and negate in their complaint a False Claims Act affirmative defense, in direc… |
| 25-5429 | Anthony Brian Walker v. United States | Tenth Circuit | 2025-08-21 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | affirmative-defense criminal-procedure jury-instructions self-defense sua-sponte substantial-evidence | 1. In a criminal prosecution, when an affirmative defense—such as imperfect self-defense—is supported by substantial evidence, does the trial court ha… |
| 25-5385 | Eric Deon Rollins v. Texas | Texas | 2025-08-15 | Denied | IFP | affirmative-defense constitutional-rights criminal-defendant due-process jury-instruction state-trial-court | WHETHER A CRIMINAL DEFENDANT IS DEPRIVED OF HIS CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS UNDER THE 6TH AND 14TH AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION TO PRESENT A… |
| 25A162 | Paul W. Parker, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Curtis John Rookaird v. BNSF Railway Company, a Delaware Corporation | Ninth Circuit | 2025-08-06 | Presumed Complete | affirmative-defense burden-shifting clear-and-convincing-evidence de-novo-review federal-railroad-safety-act protected-activity | Whether a district court's determination that an employer met its burden to prove, by "clear and convincing evidence," that it would have taken the sa… | |
| 25A155 | Jasmine Younge v. Fulton Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, Georgia | Eleventh Circuit | 2025-08-06 | Presumed Complete | affirmative-defense civil-procedure federal-rules pleading-amendment scheduling-order summary-judgment | Question not identified. | |
| 25-103 | BofI Federal Bank, nka Axos Bank v. Charles Matthew Erhart | Ninth Circuit | 2025-07-28 | Denied | Response Waived | affirmative-defense burden-shifting employment-law personnel-action sarbanes-oxley whistleblower-protection | Under AIR-21's two-step framework, can evidence showing an employee's protected activity was a contributing factor in the unfavorable personnel action… |
| 25-5067 | Kira Kristina Zielinski v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2025-07-09 | GVR | Amici (1)Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | affirmative-defense child-protection criminal-law domestic-violence parental-kidnapping statutory-interpretation | Whether a defendant is "fleeing an incidence or pattern of domestic violence" under § 1204(c)(2) if she is fleeing domestic violence against her child… |
| 24-1117 | Petroquímica de Venezuela, S.A. v. Isaac Industries, Inc. | Eleventh Circuit | 2025-04-28 | Denied | Response Waived | affirmative-defense foreign-sovereign-immunities-act responsive-pleading sovereign-immunity subject-matter-jurisdiction waiver-of-immunity | Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, as amended, 28 U.S.C. 1330, 1441(d), 1602 et seq., a foreign state, including its agencies and ins… |
| 24-463 | Marta Sanchez, et al. v. Anthony Guzman, et al. | Tenth Circuit | 2024-10-24 | Denied | affirmative-defense burden-of-proof civil-rights governmental-defendants legal-standard qualified-immunity | Whether a civil rights plaintiff bears the burden of disproving the affirmative defense of qualified immunity for governmental defendants or whether g… | |
| 24-5748 | LaVanzel Kerr v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2024-10-11 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | affirmative-defense constitutional-challenge criminal-procedure firearms-statute sentencing-guidelines statutory-interpretation | L. May a district court apply a U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(6) enhancement without resolving a defendant's affirmative defense claim? II. Is 18 U.S.C. § 922(… |
| 24-117 | Todd Berman v. Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, dba Fedloan Servicing | Fourth Circuit | 2024-08-02 | Denied | Response Waived | affirmative-defense circuit-conflict federal-contractor federal-contractor-liability government-instructions merits-trial qualified-immunity sovereign-immunity | Whether derivative sovereign immunity is an affirmative defense to be proven on the merits at trial. Whether the court of appeals erred in holding th… |
| 24-5075 | DeTron L. Perry v. Jacob L. Streittmatter | Nebraska | 2024-07-16 | Denied | IFP | affirmative-defense civil-procedure contradictory-testimony due-process evidence fair-trial | Question not identified. |
| 23-1144 | John Anthony Castro v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2024-04-22 | Denied | Response Waived | affirmative-defense burden-of-proof estoppel good-faith good-faith-erroneous-interpretation judicial-admission standard-of-review | If the government raises an affirmative defense, does it bear the burden of proof? If the government has previously claimed the Good Faith Erroneous … |
| 23-6331 | Hannibal Moore v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2023-12-22 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | affirmative-defense burden-of-proof criminal-conduct criminal-law disqualifying-element imminent-threat justification-defense legal-alternative proximate-cause | The question presented is whether the courts should also take a narrow view in considering the disqualifying element of the justification defense, and… |
| 23-408 | AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP v. Suzanne Ivie | Ninth Circuit | 2023-10-18 | Denied | Response WaivedRelisted (2) | affirmative-defense burden-of-proof civil-procedure claim evidentiary-standard final-pretrial-order judicial-process litigation-procedure pretrial-order rule-16 | In a final pretrial order under Rule 16, may a party generally contest whether the opposing party will satisfy its burden of proof on a claim or affir… |
| 22-7811 | Trent S. Griffin, Sr. v. American Zurich Insurance Company, et al. | Fifth Circuit | 2023-06-16 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | 60b-motion abuse-of-discretion affirmative-defense appellate-review full-faith-and-credit jurisdiction motion-to-dismiss plea-to-the-jurisdiction res-judicata | Pursuant to the Full Faith and Credit, whether an unauthenticated judgment have res judicata affects as an affirmative defense provided in memoranda o… |
| 22-7588 | Eric Lee Coleman v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2023-05-18 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | affirmative-defense categorical-approach criminal-law due-process judicial-interpretation sentencing sentencing-guidelines statutory-analysis statutory-interpretation | The question presented is whether a court must consider the availability (or non-availability) of an affirmative defense in the categorical approach. |
| 22-840 | K. M., Individually and on Behalf of M. M. and S. M., et al. v. Eric L. Adams, Mayor of the City of New York, et al. | Second Circuit | 2023-03-03 | Denied | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2) | administrative-exhaustion administrative-remedies affirmative-defense claim-processing-rule disability-education idea-statute individuals-with-disabilities-education-act judicial-challenge jurisdiction jurisdictional-requirement waiver | 1. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA") requires, with certain exceptions, the exhaustion of administrative remedies before a judi… |
| 22-6859 | Eddie Turner v. U.S. Bank National Association, et al. | California | 2023-02-24 | Denied | IFP | affirmative-defense civil-procedure claim-preclusion deed-of-trust demurrer final-judgment judicial-ruling operation-of-law privity void-deed void-deed-of-trust | A void deed of trust is without legal effect. It binds no one and is a mere nullity. Such a contract has no existence whatsoever. It has no legal enti… |
| 22-660 | Trevor Murray v. UBS Securities, LLC, et al. | Second Circuit | 2023-01-18 | Judgment Issued | Amici (14)Relisted (2) | affirmative-defense burden-shifting employment-law intent personnel-action retaliation retaliatory-intent sarbanes-oxley whistleblower whistleblower-protection | Under the burden-shifting framework that governs Sarbanes-Oxley cases, must a whistleblower prove his employer acted with a "retaliatory intent" as pa… |
| 22-5804 | In Re David Kevin Lewis | 2022-10-11 | Denied | Response WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | acquittal-standard affirmative-defense civil-procedure due-process jurisdiction jurisdictional-issue legal-procedure motion-for-acquittal statute-of-limitations trial-motion | Is the Law of the United States for Statute of limitations a matter of jurisdiction and by Lewis raising the issue in trial as well as filing the tria… | |
| 22-5530 | Joseph Ray Jordan v. United States | Second Circuit | 2022-09-08 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | affirmative-defense brady-rule constitutional-rights criminal-procedure ineffective-assistance-of-counsel post-conviction-relief right-to-testify section-2255 strickland-standard witness-tampering | Each of the following four pages presents one primary question regarding IAC claims that survived Section 2255(b) screening, but were ultimately rejec… |
| 21-1105 | Jana Garcia v. Wyoming Department of Health and Social Services | Tenth Circuit | 2022-02-10 | Denied | Response Waived | ada affirmative-defense americans-with-disabilities-act civil-rights eleventh-amendment eleventh-amendment-immunity federal-funding federal-funds rehabilitation-act subject-matter-jurisdiction waiver-of-defense | 1. In an action against a State under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended, is the State immune from suit under the Eleventh Amendment when the c… |
| 21-937 | Christopher Lee Holloway v. Minnesota | Eighth Circuit | 2021-12-23 | Denied | Response Waived | based solely on the relative age of the actor violates the constitutional right to equal-protec while permitting it to another affirmative-defense age-discrimination constitutional-rights criminal-procedure due-process equal-protection federal-law legislative-intent rational-basis | Whether the denial of an affirmative defense to one class of offenders in a criminal case, while permitting it to another, based solely on the relativ… |
| 21-6662 | Bryant Christopher Watts v. Texas | Texas | 2021-12-17 | Denied | IFP | affirmative-defense appellate-procedure appellate-review constitutional-review criminal-procedure due-process reasonable-doubt self-defense standard-of-review sufficiency-of-evidence trial-court | DID THE COURT OF APPEALS ERR IN AFFIRMING THE TRIAL COURT WHERE EVIDENCE IS INSUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT THE AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE OF SELF DEFENSE BEYOND A R… |
| 21-6044 | Kenneth Jay Still v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2021-10-25 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | affirmative-defense criminal-law due-process eighth-circuit firearm-possession firearms justification justification-defense police-contact prohibited-person self-defense | Several circuits have held that justification is a cognizable affirmative defense to the charge of being a prohibited person in possession of a firear… |
| 21-550 | Tyrone Christopher Thompson v. Alabama | Alabama | 2021-10-14 | Denied | Response Waived | 14th-amendment affirmative-defense complete-defense due-process expert-testimony fourteenth-amendment meaningful-opportunity-to-present-defense mental-disease mental-disease-or-defect pre-trial-hearing | Does precluding a defendant from presenting any evidence of an affirmative defense of mental disease or defect to a jury based solely on conflicting e… |
| 21-516 | Justin Haggerty v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2021-10-07 | Denied | 18-usc-1152 affirmative-defense criminal-procedure element federal-jurisdiction indian-country interracial interracial-offense statutory-interpretation subject-matter-jurisdiction | I. Whether the "interracial" nature of a minor offense in Indian Country is an element of 18 U.S.C. § 1152, rather than an affirmative defense, and th… | |
| 20-8402 | Daniel Chica-Gutierrez v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2021-06-23 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | affirmative-defense collateral-attack criminal-procedure custis-rule federal-statutory-provision sentencing sentencing-commission sentencing-guidelines state-court-conviction statutory-interpretation | Whether a federal court is permitted to consider an argument that a prior state-court conviction does not satisfy a relevant federal statutory provisi… |
| 20-7934 | John Patrick Couch v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2021-05-05 | GVR | Relisted (6)IFP | affirmative-defense controlled-substances criminal-procedure jury-instructions medical-practice standard-of-care | Did the trial court error by conflating the Valid defense of a crime as an element of that crime in its instruction to the jury regarding a physician … |
| 20-1017 | Lawrence Johnson v. United States | Second Circuit | 2021-01-28 | Denied | Relisted (2) | 2nd-amendment affirmative-defense circuit-split civil-rights common-law criminal-law criminal-statute due-process firearm-possession law-enforcement statutory-interpretation | In Dixon v. United States, 548 U.S. 1 (2006), this Court held that every "long-established common-law" affirmative defense is incorporated into the fe… |
| 20-6791 | Alvin Christopher Penn v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2021-01-08 | Denied | IFP | affirmative-defense commerce-clause constitutional-law criminal-law felon-in-possession interstate-commerce minimal-nexus united-states-v-bailey united-states-v-lopez united-states-v-scarborough | 1. Whether United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995), compels overruling Scarborough v. United States, 431 U.S. 563 (1977), which requires only a mi… |
| 20-6770 | Lelis Ezequiel Treminio-Tobar v. United States | Fourth Circuit | 2021-01-04 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | 5th-amendment affirmative-defense criminal-procedure due-process fifth-amendment jury-instruction jury-instructions trial-court | Whether the Fifth Amendment Due Process right to present a defense requires the trial court to instruct the jury that it has a duty to acquit any defe… |
| 20-6190 | Bradley R. Freeman v. New Mexico | New Mexico | 2020-11-02 | Denied | Response RequestedResponse WaivedRelisted (2)IFP | affirmative-defense brady-v-maryland constitutional-requirement criminal-procedure due-process plea-agreement plea-bargaining prosecutorial-disclosure prosecutorial-misconduct | 1. Does the Constitution require, before entering into a binding plea agreement with a criminal defendant, that the prosecution disclose favorable, ma… |
| 20-266 | Bradley Bieganski v. Arizona | Arizona | 2020-09-02 | Denied | Response Waived | affirmative-defense burden-of-proof child-molestation constitutional-limits criminal-statute due-process presumption-of-innocence sexual-intent | Whether Arizona's molestation statute -- which presumes that anyone, including parents and foster parents like Petitioner, who bathe or diaper their c… |
| 20-5341 | Erik Becerra v. United States | Eighth Circuit | 2020-08-13 | Denied | IFP | affirmative-defense criminal-justice criminal-prosecution federal-law firearm-possession judicial-development lower-court-conflict statutory-interpretation | In a criminal prosecution for unlawful possession of a firearm or ammunition, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), does federal law permit the judicial development of … |
| 20-5082 | Robert Deane Schwartz v. Raymond Madden, Warden | Ninth Circuit | 2020-07-15 | Denied | IFP | affirmative-defense certificate-of-appealability due-process fourteenth-amendment habeas habeas-corpus jury-instruction jury-instructions | Did the Ninth Circuit err for failing to grant a certificate of appealability pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(2) on petitioner's claim that the state … |
| 19-1448 | Excel Modular Scaffold & Leasing Company, dba Excel Scaffold & Leasing v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, et al. | Fifth Circuit | 2020-07-01 | Denied | Response Waived | administrative-law affirmative-defense civil-procedure due-process impossibility-doctrine judicial-review occupational-safety osha regulatory-compliance standard-of-review waiver | I. Did the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") err in ruling that Excel Modular Scaffold & L… |
| 19-1291 | Charles Hamner v. Danny Burls, Warden, et al. | Eighth Circuit | 2020-05-14 | Denied | Amici (7) | affirmative-defense circuit-split civil-procedure civil-rights constitutional-law constitutional-prong due-process federal-appellate-courts qualified-immunity standing state-actors sua-sponte | "Since qualified immunity is a defense, the burden of pleading it rests with the defendant." Gomez v. Toledo, 446 U.S. 635, 640 (1980). Nonetheless, t… |
| 19-7084 | Andrew Haley Morcombe v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-12-30 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | affirmative-defense criminal-procedure domestic-violence due-process fair-trial international-kidnapping international-parental-kidnapping jury-instructions state-law state-law-definitions statutory-interpretation | Whether the failure of 18 U.S.C. § 1204, the International Parental Kidnapping statute, to define the term "domestic violence" for purposes of an affi… |
| 19-6475 | Burton Maurice Kahn v. Robert Ripley | Fifth Circuit | 2019-11-01 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | affirmative-defense civil-procedure collateral-estoppel due-process federal-rules-of-civil-procedure merits res-judicata standing | 1. If in the initial trial, the Court refused to hear litigation of the merits, should future Courts apply res judicata or collateral estoppel to the … |
| 19-6249 | Michael Terrill Faircloth v. United States | Eleventh Circuit | 2019-10-10 | Denied | IFP | 18-usc-922g1 affirmative-defense circuit-split criminal-statute felon-in-possession firearm-possession innocent-possession safe-streets-act transitory-possession | Whether a felon may assert an affirmative defense of innocent, transitory possession when charged as a felon-in-possession of a firearm under § 922(g)… |
| 19-381 | Rainbow Ridge Resort, LLC, et al. v. Branch Banking and Trust Company | Tennessee | 2019-09-20 | Denied | Response Waived | affirmative-defense civil-procedure civil-rights constitutional-challenge due-process examination-limitations first-amendment petition petition-rights pleading standing statutory-interpretation takings | 1. Is Tennessee Code Annotated Sec. 35-5-118 unconstitutional as applied, given the lack of due process created by artificially limiting a Defendant's… |
| 19-246 | Massood Jallali v. Florida | Florida | 2019-08-26 | Denied | Response Waived | affirmative-defense brady-rule brady-violation-claim criminal-procedure discovery due-process evidence theory-of-innocence | WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT DEPARTED FROM THE ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS OF LAW IN DISCOVERY RULINGS THAT RESULTED IN A MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE AND DEPRIVATION… |
| 19-192 | Matthew Herrick v. Grindr LLC, et al. | Second Circuit | 2019-08-14 | Denied | Response Waived | affirmative-defense communications-decency-act failure-to-warn fraud interactive-computer-services motion-to-dismiss negligence non-publication-torts product-liability publication-torts section-230 | (1) Does the Communications Decency Act § 230(c)(1), which protects interactive computer services from liability for traditional publication torts whe… |
| 18-1292 | Craig Roth v. Nassau County, New York | Second Circuit | 2019-04-11 | Denied | Response Waived | ada affirmative-defense americans-with-disabilities-act civil-procedure civil-rights collateral-estoppel disability due-process employment federal-claims judicial-procedure | Are lower courts correctly applying the affirmative defense of collateral estoppel to bar federal claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act? |
| 18-7936 | Jaquan Henderson v. Greg Skipper, Warden | Sixth Circuit | 2019-02-13 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | affirmative-defense constitutional-law criminal-law criminal-procedure duress legal-justification murder statutory-interpretation | WHETHER DURESS IS AN AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE PRIOR TO AN OCCURRE NCE OF MURDER? |
| 18-7745 | Alrick A. Evans v. Connecticut | Connecticut | 2019-02-04 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | affirmative-defense alleyne-precedent criminal-statute element jury-determination mandatory-minimum sixth-amendment united-states-v-alleyne | Whether a state court may interpret a criminal statute so that a fact that triggers a mandatory minimum is termed an "affirmative defenses" rather tha… |
| 18-7496 | Nemiah Allan v. Connecticut | Connecticut | 2019-01-18 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | affirmative-defense alleyne-precedent criminal-statute element jury-determination mandatory-minimum sixth-amendment united-states-v-alleyne | Whether a state court may interpret a criminal statute so that a fact that triggers a mandatory minimum is termed an "affirmative defenses' rather tha… |
| 18-7451 | Shane Cox v. United States | Tenth Circuit | 2019-01-16 | Denied | Relisted (2)IFP | affirmative-defense criminal-procedure due-process due-process-right-to-present-defense federal-preemption federal-prosecution firearms-regulation kansas-law second-amendment short-barreled-rifles silencers state-rights | I. Did the district court deny Mr. Cox his due process right to present a defense when it precluded Mr. Cox from arguing to the jury that his reliance… |
| 18-901 | Kaylen DeWayne Simmons v. Texas | Texas | 2019-01-11 | Denied | affirmative-defense affirmative-defenses constitutional-review court-of-appeals due-process due-process,civil-procedure,affirmative-defenses,i factual-sufficiency factual-sufficiency-review impossibility indigency precedent-conflict | 1) Whether the Court of Appeals erred in affirming in part the judgments of the trial court by not performing the constitutionally mandated factualsuf… | |
| 18-6911 | Adrian Pineda-Orozco v. United States | Fifth Circuit | 2018-12-04 | Denied | Response WaivedIFP | acceptance-of-responsibility affirmative-defense criminal-conviction criminal-law criminal-law-procedure duress-defense family-member fifth-circuit miscarriage-of-justice sentencing | 1. Whether the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion permitting Pineda-Orasco's conviction to stand resulted in a miscarriage of justice given the lo… |
| 18-500 | The First Presbyterian Church U. S. A. of Tulsa, Oklahoma, et al. v. John Doe | Oklahoma | 2018-10-18 | Denied | Amici (3) | affirmative-defense church-discipline church-doctrine church-government church-member-disputes consent consent-based first-amendment jurisdiction jurisdictional-doctrine membership membership-dispute religious-autonomy | 1. Whether the religious autonomy doctrine derives from the First Amendment or rather is a consent-based doctrine applicable only to disputes between … |
| 18-207 | George Duggan v. Department of Defense | Ninth Circuit | 2018-08-16 | Denied | Response Waived | affirmative-defense agency-burden clear-and-convincing-evidence federal-circuit personnel-actions prima-facie prima-facie-retaliation protected-disclosures retaliation whistleblower-protection whistleblower-protection-enhancement-act | Whether after a prima facie retaliation for whistleblowing has been found under the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 does the Agency's… |
| 18-206 | Craig Cunningham v. General Dynamics Information Technology, Inc. | Fourth Circuit | 2018-08-16 | Denied | affirmative-defense civil-procedure federal-agency-authority federal-contractor-liability federal-preemption federal-statutes government-contractor-defense jurisdictional-defense separation-of-powers sovereign-immunity statutory-interpretation yearsley-defense yearsley-v-w-a-ross | Almost 80 years ago, in Yearsley u. W. A. Ross Const. Co., 309 U.S. 18, 21-22 (1940), under seemingly innocuous facts, this Court created a defense to… |