The Justice Dept. has advised the Supreme Court that it does not “at this time” support review of the Association’s on-time performance case, but at the same time mostly agreed with our position on the merits of our claim – which leaves the door open for the Court to hold our petitions until a federal appeals court rules on metrics and standards issues in a related case filed by the American Association of Railroads. The office of the Solicitor General – the third-ranking official in the Justice Dept. and the federal government’s designated attorney for arguments before the Supreme Court – filed a brief opposing the request by Amtrak and a coalition of rail-passenger advocates led by RPA for the Supreme Court to hear our case through a process known as petitioning for a “writ of certiorari.” RPA filed its cert petition, through its counsel and partner the Environmental Law and Policy Center, on November 10, which would have paved the way for enforcement of on- Continue reading...
