9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

The Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments last week on a case of first impression: does California's procedure for consolidating mass torts violate the federal Class Action Fairness Act? While two drug companies argued federal law requires mass torts be tried in federal court, the Ninth Circuit panel appeared reluctant to accept that view, The National Law Journal's Amanda Bronstad reports. The plaintiffs sought to coordinate the cases in California state court for all purposes, which violates CAFA's requirement that mass actions involving 100 or more people be consolidated in federal court except for pretrial purposes.

The Associated Press reports that Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto said she is reevaluating her office's defense of that state's ban on same-sex marriage. Masto, according to the AP, says that the state's arguments have been severely weakened after the 9th Circuit ruled that it is unconstitutional to exclude jurors on the basis of sexual orientation.

Last year, a federal judge upheld Nevada's state constitutional ban on same-sex marriage because Nevada has "a 'legitimate state interest' in maintaining the traditional institution of marriage. The question 'is not the wisdom of providing for or recognizing same-sex marriage as a matter of policy,' he wrote. Instead, [U.S. District Judge Robert] Jones said it was a constitutional question about Nevada’s right not to recognize marriages from other states 'if those laws do not conform to Nevada’s one-man-one-woman civil marriage institution,'" the Associated Press reported. On Friday, the ruling was appealed to the Ninth Circuit. Nevada bans same-sex matrimony but authorizes domestic partnerships.

The district court decision was made before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act.