Appellate Litigation/Supreme Court Practice

• Public Broadcasters in a challenge under the Administrative Procedure Act and Constitution to the FCC’s enforcement policy with respect to the broadcast of indecent content.  (FCC, et al. v. Fox Television Stations, Inc., et al., No. 07-582).
• Two major trade associations (the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the Biotechnology Industry Organization) in a case concerning whether the prescription drug labeling judgments of the FDA preempt state law tort claims alleging that different labeling judgments were necessary to make the drug reasonably safe.  (Wyeth v. Levine, No. 06-1249).
• DuPont in a case concerning whether ERISA requires a 401(k) plan to pay the balance in a deceased employee’s 401(k) account to the employee’s ex-wife, where the employee designated her as his beneficiary and never revoked that designation and where the divorce decree that purported to divest her of any interest in the account was not a Qualified Domestic Relations Order under ERISA.  (Kennedy, et al. v. Plan Administrator for DuPont Savings and Investment Plan, et al., No. 07-636).
• Afton Callahan in a Section 1983 suit raising a constitutional challenge to police officers’ warrantless entry and search of his home, where the officers assert that he consented to the entry by permitting a confidential informant to enter.  (Pearson, et al. v. Callahan, No. 07-751).

• Exxon Shipping Company in a challenge to the $2.5 billion punitive damages award in the Exxon Valdez.  (Exxon Shipping Co., et al. v. Baker, No. 07-219).
• The ERISA Industry Committee in an ERISA case concerning the scope of civil remedies available under ERISA.  (LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates, Inc., et al., No. 06-856).
• iBiquity Digital Corporation in a patent case concerning the scope of the patent exhaustion doctrine.  (Quanta Computer, Inc., et al. v. LG Electronics, Inc., No. 06-937).
• The National Association of State Treasurers in defending the constitutionality of state tax exemptions for municipal bounds issued by the State or its political subdivisions.  (Department of Revenue of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, et al. v. Davis, No. 06-666).
• Detainees at Guantanamo Bay in a case involving challenges to their detention.  (Al Odah, et al. v. United States, et al., No. 06-1196).
• The District of Columbia and former Department of Justice Officials in defending the District’s gun control laws against a constitutional challenge under the Second Amendment.  (District of Columbia, et al. v. Heller, No. 07-290).

Representative Matters

• Representing Wachovia Bank in the U.S. Supreme Court in a preemption case that has been called "the most important banking case in ten years."  (Watters v. Wachovia Bank, N.A.).
• Representing the National Football League and its member clubs in an antitrust case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, following our trial court representation of the client, and obtaining affirmance of an unprecedented district court decision holding that the NFL and the clubs operate as a “single entity” in collectively licensing their intellectual property in competition with other entertainment providers and therefore cannot violate Section 1 of the Sherman Act.  (American Needle Inc. v. NFL).
• Representing eleven oil companies against the United States in a breach-of-contract case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, following our representation of the clients in the Court of Federal Claims, and obtaining affirmance of an award of over $1 billion to the oil companies in restitution for the government’s breach of nearly three dozen oil and gas leases off the coast of California.  (Amber Resources Co., et al. v. United States).
• Representing Hoffmann-La Roche before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, following our trial court representation of the client, and obtaining affirmance of the District Court’s Daubert exclusion of the the plaintiffs' only scientific causation expert in the Accutane inflammatory bowel disease multidistrict litigation.  (Rand v. Hoffmann-La Roche, et al.).
• Representing the IBM Pension Plan in an important ERISA case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit holding that cash balance pension plans do not violate ERISA's age discrimination provisions.  The court of appeals’ ruling saved IBM’s pension plan a potential $1.4 billion.  (Cooper v. IBM Personal Pension Plan).
• Representing the National Football League in antitrust litigation in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit challenging the NFL’s draft eligibility rules.  (Clarett v. NFL).

Accolades

• Named to The National Law Journal's 2008 "Appellate Hot List" featuring firms that played a lead role in the most important appeals of the year.
• In naming Covington as a finalist for “Litigation Department of the Year” in 2007, the American Lawyer praised Covington’s appellate and Supreme Court practice.
• Robert Long and Edward Bruce recognized for Appellate Law in The Best Lawyers in America.
• Robert Long recognized for Appellate Litigation in Chambers USA: America’s Best Lawyers for Business, Euromoney’s Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Lawyers, Washingtonian Magazine’s “Top Lawyers” and Washington, DC Super Lawyers.
• Robert Long is a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and a Master of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court.  Ed Bruce is a former President of the Inn.