SCOTUSblog Interviews Pratik Shah and Martine Cicconi for “First Mondays” Podcast

SCOTUSblog, in its “First Mondays” podcast, spoke with Akin Gump Supreme Court and appellate practice co-head Pratik Shah and counsel Martine Cicconi. The two talked about the firm’s involvement with Patchak v. Zinke, reflected on their amicus brief in the travel ban case Trump v. Hawaii, and discussed the firm’s Supreme Court practice in an increasingly crowded field.

The Patchak case involved the issue of whether Congress can strip jurisdiction pertaining to a particular parcel of land. Shah noted that Akin Gump did not get involved until after the Court agreed to hear the matter. Given the firm’s strong American Indian law practice, and the involvement in this instance of the Gun Lake Tribe, a firm client, Shah said it was an easy decision. He also pointed out that this was a constitutional separation of powers case—another area where the firm is well positioned. In the end, the firm prevailed in a 6-3 decision.

Cicconi then talked about the firm’s pro bono work in Trump v. Hawaii, noting that the Akin Gump team, in the brief it filed, focused on the parallels with an earlier Supreme Court case, Korematsu v. United States, involving the incarceration of Japanese Americans by the U.S. government during World War II. Despite being on the losing side in the travel ban case, Cicconi said there was a small victory in the fact that the Court, in the majority opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, said the seven-decade old decision in the Korematsu case was wrong.

Finally, the discussion covered Akin Gump’s Supreme Court and appellate practice, with Shah speaking of the firm’s desire to keep it “very strong, sustainable, but intimate.”

To listen to the podcast, please click here.