Beer … here.

The Federal Circuit issued its en banc opinion in Beer v. U.S., __ F.3d __ (Fed. Cir. 2012) this afternoon.  The Beer opinion is not a patent case — it concerns judicial pay.

It is interesting that while the en banc Akamai case took a rather long time to decide by Federal Circuit en banc standards (Akamai took roughly nine months following oral argument), the Beer decision was on tap for public consumption pretty quickly (a mere five weeks following oral argument).

I’ve noted in the past that since becoming Chief Judge, Chief Judge Rader has not asked substantive questions during oral arguments of en banc cases.  This is odd as he doesn’t hesitate to ask questions during oral arguments of panel cases where he always serves as presiding judge.  The oral argument in Beer was no exception to this growing pattern.  If I ever attend a conference where  CJ Rader is speaking about en banc cases, I should ask him what the story is.

The Beer opinion along with its dissent and concurring opinions is available here.

You can listen to the oral argument here: [Listen].

Comments are closed.