National Chamber Litigation Center

• Filed amicus briefs and direct party challenges in a record 125 new court cases in 2007. NCLC also achieved a record 54 victories in 2007. Expect to enter even more cases in 2008.
• Achieved a record 13 wins and only 2 losses in the Supreme Court term ending in June 2007. Filed in 12 Supreme Court cases and obtained Supreme Court review in 4 cases so far in the current term.
  • Significant 2007 victories included: Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., which carved out an exception from campaign finance restrictions for true grassroots lobbying ads; Philip Morris v. Williams, which made clear that plaintiffs may not obtain punitive damages for harm done to others not before the court; Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, which strengthened pleading rules so that baseless complaints can be weeded out before onerous discovery is sought. 
  • Significant cert. grants in 2007 included the Chamber's own lawsuit (Chamber of Commerce v. Brown) challenging California's statute prohibiting employers from speaking to their employees about union organizing on the grounds that the statute is preempted by federal law; and Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker, in which the Court will consider limits on excessive punitive damages awards in the maritime context.
  • Other 2007 NCLC lower court victories included enjoining as a party-plaintiff the Department of Homeland Security from issuing -- for immigration purposes -- letters from the Social Security Administration (SSA) to businesses that state Social Security numbers used by the businesses' workers do not match records in the SSA database (AFL-CIO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce et al. v. Chertoff). 
  • NCLC was also successful as an amicus in striking down Hazleton, Pennsylvania's immigration ordinance on grounds of federal preemption  (Lozano v. City of Hazleton).
  • A direct party challenge to Arizona's immigration statute on federal preemption grounds is pending.