Elgin v. Dep’t of the Treasury - Post-Argument SCOTUScast
SCOTUScast 03-08-12 featuring Thomas Merrill
SCOTUScast 03-08-12 featuring Thomas Merrill
On February 27, 2012, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Elgin v. Dep’t of the Treasury. This case involves federal employees who contend that their employment was improperly terminated in violation of the Constitution and are seeking reinstatement, an equitable form of relief. The question is whether federal district courts have jurisdiction under the Civil Service Reform Act to address constitutional claims for equitable relief.
To discuss the case, we have Thomas Merrill, who is the Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law at Columbia Law School.
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Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
THOMAS W. MERRILL is the Charles Evans Hughes Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. He previously taught at Northwestern University School of Law and Yale Law School. He has undergraduate degrees from Grinnell College and Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, and a law degree from the University of Chicago. He clerked on the D.C. Circuit (for Chief Judge David Bazelon) and the U.S. Supreme Court (for Justice Harry Blackmun). From 1987-1990 he served as Deputy Solicitor General, U.S. Department of Justice. Professor Merrill’s writings related to property include Property: Principles and Policies (Foundation Press Second Edition, 2012) (with Henry E. Smith); Property: The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law (Oxford U. Press, 2010); Property: Takings (Foundation Press, 2002)(with David Dana); and numerous articles, including “The Economics of Public Use” (Cornell Law Review 1986); “The Landscape of Constitutional Property” (Virginia Law Review 2000); and “The Character of the Governmental Action” (Vermont Law Review 2012). He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.