NCLC's Robin Conrad briefs the press on business victories in the latest Supreme Court session.

Businesses had a mixed Supreme Court session, with victories in important federal preemption cases somewhat tempered by the Court's decisions in the employment discrimination arena, according to legal experts attending the National Chamber Litigation Center's (NCLC's) 4th Annual Supreme Court Wrap-Up Media Briefing on June 24 at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The Supreme Court sided with NCLC in seven of the 14 cases in which NCLC was involved, with the majority of the anti-business decisions coming in employment cases, according to NCLC Executive Vice President Robin Conrad. Though those employment case decisions were touted in the media, they were "actually much ado about nothing," according to Attorney Walter Dellinger. Most of the decisions merely clarified whether existing laws that prohibit discrimination also prohibit retaliation, he said.

The business community's legal victories in the Supreme Court session ending this month were far more significant than its losses, according to Dellinger and fellow attorney Miguel Estrada. Estrada said that businesses would especially feel the beneficial impact of the preemption cases, where the court broke a ten-year trend by supporting federal over states' jurisdiction. "As we move towards a global economy, it is going to be a lot harder to have 51 different systems of regulation," Dellinger said, calling the recent decisions an "inevitable necessity."

NCLC is a public-policy law firm representing businesses in the courts and regulatory agencies on issues that are national in both scope and significance.

Learn more about the cases at www.uschamber.com/nclc.