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Read Coverage of Prof. Merritt's Argument Before the U.S. Supreme Court

October 5, 2009

Contact: Barbara Peck, (614) 292-0283

On Wednesday, Oct. 7, Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Professor Deborah Jones Merritt argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The court, in Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick, is expected to determine whether a provision in the Copyright Act prevents federal jurisdiction for claims of unregistered copyrights. Professor Merritt, who argued for the first time before the U.S. Supreme Court, was hand-selected by the Court to defend the lower court ruling.

Here is a Columbus Dispatch story about Merritt’s argument. Read a Legal Times blog posting about Merritt and her appointment to the case. To read the brief filed by Merritt, please visit this link. To read the transcript of Merritt's argument before the Court, visit this link.

Professor Merritt, the John Deaver Drinko-Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law at Moritz, graduated from Harvard College summa cum laude in 1977 and from Columbia Law School in 1980. While at Columbia, she was managing editor of the Columbia Law Review and won the Robert Noxon Toppan Prize.

After graduation, Merritt clerked for Judge (now Justice) Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Merritt practiced law in Atlanta and joined the law faculty at the University of Illinois in 1985. She accepted the Drinko Chair at Ohio State in 1995. Merritt has published widely on issues of equality, affirmative action, federalism, health and technology, legal education, tort reform, and law and social science.

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