Jeffrey L. Fisher

Fisher argued and won two cases at the U.S. Supreme Court this past term, and he had reason to be especially proud about one of them. One of attorneys on the other side, Erica Ross, was a former student of his from Stanford's Supreme Court Litigation Clinic.

His opponent in the other case he won, Deputy Attorney General Eric Feigin, also was a former clinic student but from the year before Fisher became its co-director.

"When I handle cases now in the clinic, I'm sometimes arguing against my former students who are now in the solicitor general's office. That's a huge amount of pleasure for me," he said.

He's even proud when he loses to them. "I just hope I don't do it too often."

Fisher's two victories this term came in a pair of very different criminal cases. In Lange v. California, 2021 DJDAR 6246 (U.S. S.Ct. June 22, 2021), the court held that a police officer in "hot pursuit" of a fleeing misdemeanant may sometimes need a warrant to chase the suspect into his home. Fisher argued a warrant should sometimes be required. Ross argued as amicus for the U.S. that presumptively a warrant shouldn't be required.

In Van Buren v. United States, 2021 DJDAR 5397 (U.S. S.Ct. June 3, 2021), the court limited the application of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 primarily to computer hacking but not to using available computer information for illicit purposes. Feigin argued for a much broader reading.

Fisher had a pair of losses this term, too. One dealt with whether a felon caught with a gun may claim he hadn't been informed that the firearm possession statute would apply to him.

The other held Philadelphia cannot refuse to use a Catholic foster care program that won't accept same-sex couples as foster parents. Fisher said that 9-0 loss was very narrow. "We took it as a damage-control outcome."

Next term, he'll be arguing cases about the Confrontation Clause, whether an elected government board can censure a member over his speech, if emotional distress damages are allowed in discrimination lawsuits and, finally, whether Mississippi can ban nearly all abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy.

In the Mississippi case, he represents the Center for Reproductive Health as a special counsel in O'Melveny's Supreme Court and appellate litigation practice group.

Like his position at Stanford, his role at O'Melveny allows him to teach younger lawyers. "It's another layer for me of mentoring the next generation of Supreme Court lawyers," he said. "I'm starting to see my own role in the bar as supporting younger lawyers' careers."

-- Don DeBenedictis