Sotomayor Delivers First Supreme Court Opinion of New Term

The newest member of the Supreme Court of the United States, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, was given the opportunity to deliver the first opinion of this term. Sotomayor read the opinion out loud regarding the case of Mohawk Industries v. Carpenter.

The case involved a man named Norman Carpenter who sued his former employer, Mohawk Industries, for wrongful termination. He then met with the company's lawyers and was attempting to obtain the documentation from the meeting. A federal judge ruled that the documents were protected by attorney-client privilege, but said that the company had waived its rights through its litigation involving undocumented workers. 

The Supreme court agreed with the federal judges decision. "Postjudgment appeals, together with other review mechanisms, suffice to protect the rights of litigants and preserve the vitality of the attorney client privilege," Sotomayor said. The decision was unanimous, but Justice Clarence Thomas disagreed with part of Sotomayor's reasoning.