These Jones Day Partners Are Arguing 4 of 5 SCOTUS Cases This Week

Jones Day has a busy week: its partners are arguing four of the week's five Supreme Court cases.

We stopped by Jones Day's office at 51 Louisiana Ave to snap the four DC-based attorneys: Mike Carvin, Noel Francisco, Chris Vergonis and Greg Katsas.

On Monday, Mike argued the Virginia redistricting case Wittman v. Personhuballah—his 10th argument before the Court. The issues center on redrawn lines in Rep. Bobby Scott's 3rd District. On a personal level, it will be quite different without Justice Scalia on the bench, he told us last week. "Justice Scalia was famous for being incredibly smart, sometimes acerbic, and relatively active in argument. So it'll change the dynamics in that sense."

Earlier this term, Mike argued before the Nine against mandatory agency fees to unions from public employees, in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. "This is a very interactive court," he says. With the absence of Justice Scalia, the justices have also shifted around their seats, so lawyers arguing have to reorient the directions in which they're accustomed to speaking or where they're anticipating questions from.

Next on Monday, Greg argued in RJR Nabisco v. European Community, which debates whether RICO applies extraterritorially. Greg, a former assistant AG and clerk to Justice Thomas, has argued lower court arguments for RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co, which Mike tells us is a huge client of Jones Day's. RJR Nabisco was sued by 26 members of the EU for allegedly participating in money laundering. Justice Sotomayor recused herself, reported the Washington Post, so only seven justices heard the case.

On Tuesday, Chris takes on his first SCOTUS argument, pro bono, in Simmons v. Himmelreich. It centers around when a judgment dismissing a prisoner's FTCA claim bars a parallel Bivens case. Chris was litigating a different case for a client of the firm involving the same legal issue, and wanted to make sure Himmelreich's pro se Sixth Circuit victory, which was helpful to the other matter, didn't get overturned. He reached out to Himmelreich, who is incarcerated in a federal prison. After corresponding by letter, Himmelreich retained Chris for any further proceedings, including when the SG's office ultimately filed its petition for cert.

Noel is sharing time with Paul Clement in one of the term's most anticipated cases, Zubik v. Burwell, on Wednesday. The case gets 90 minutes for argument, consolidating seven cases that deal with the HHS contraceptive mandate and whether the "accommodations" given to religious nonprofits violate the '93 Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The institutions claim that the method for them to opt out from providing employees or students access to contraceptives isn't the "least restrictive means" of fulfilling the contraceptive mandate.

This will be Noel's second Supreme Court argument. His first was in recess appointment case NLRB v. Noel Canning, where he received a unanimous judgment. Noel, who heads Jones Day's government regulation practice, clerked for the late Justice Scalia.

Beth Heifetz, a former clerk for Justice Blackmun and Judge Mikva, chairs Jones Day's 70-lawyer Issues & Appeals Practice and oversees judicial clerk recruiting.

"I think this week at the Court is really representative of why this practice is so strong, because we have an incredibly deep bench of talent," Beth says. "When we have four cases, we can have four lawyers coming before the court, all with tremendous experience and ability."

The firm has seven arguments before the Supreme Court this term.