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Seth M. Galanter is Of Counsel in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office and practices in the Appellate Practice Group of the Litigation Department.

Mr. Galanter’s primary focus is on Supreme Court and appellate litigation. He has argued more than 40 cases in the federal courts of appeals, including in eleven of the twelve regional courts of appeals. The cases have involved a range of issues, including the constitutional limits of federal authority under the Commerce Clause and Spending Clause, the prerequisites for administrative deference, the availability of private rights of action under federal statutes, and the scope and interpretation of federal disability and voting rights laws. His recent work has involved banking, energy law, and intellectual property matters, as well as general statutory and constitutional litigation. Mr. Galanter recently argued a case in the Supreme Court of the United States regarding the scope of an important attorneys’ fee statute.

Mr. Galanter worked at the United States Department of Justice from 1994 until 2002. He initially served as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General. He later worked as an appellate attorney in the Appellate Section of the Civil Rights Division where he briefed and argued cases in the courts of appeals. Mr. Galanter also worked closely with the Office of the Solicitor General in the preparation of briefs and argument for cases pending in the Supreme Court of the United States.

Mr. Galanter was recently appointed by DC Mayor Adrian Fenty to serve on the newly constituted District of Columbia Commission on Persons with Disabilities. He was chosen for his experience with and demonstrated interest in issues that impact persons with disabilities. Mr. Galanter has also been named by the DC Bar as 2008 Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year, in recognition of his unwavering commitment to advocate for individuals and organizations in matters that present novel and complex legal issues.

Mr. Galanter served as a law clerk to the Honorable Dolores K. Sloviter, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. Galanter received his B.A. degree from Columbia College in 1990 and his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1993, where he served as an Articles Editor on the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and graduated with high honors.

Mr. Galanter is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. He is also a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, as well as the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, District of Columbia, and Federal Circuits.

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Representative Matters

• Hall Street Associates v. Mattel, Inc., 128 S. Ct. 1396 (2008). Brief for Mattel, Inc. regarding whether the Federal Arbitration Act permits parties to expand the grounds on which a court may vacate or modify an arbitration award under Sections 10 and 11 of the Act.
• Sole v. Wyner, 127 S. Ct. 2188 (2007). Argument and brief regarding the proper interpretation of a statutory provision authorizing the award of attorneys’ fees.
• Safeco Insurance Co. of America v. Burr, 127 S. Ct. 2201 (2007). Brief for Financial Services Roundtable, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, the Business Roundtable, the Mortgage Bankers Association, the American Bankers Association, the American Financial Services Association, America’s Community Bankers, and the Consumer Bankers Association regarding the proper interpretation of critical statutory terms in the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
• Klein & Co. Futures Inc. v. Board of Trade, 127 S. Ct. 2431 (2007). Petition for a writ of certiorari, and, after Supreme Court granted petition, brief for Klein & Co. Futures Inc. regarding whether the Commodity Exchange Act confers a private right of action to futures commission merchants that suffer losses as a result of a board of trade’s bad faith failure to adhere to its own rules, the Commodity Exchange Act, or federal regulations.
• Goodman v. Georgia, 546 U.S. 151 (2006). Petition for a writ of certiorari and, after Supreme Court review was granted, brief on petitioner’s behalf regarding congressional authority under the Fourteenth Amendment to enact the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Granholm v. Heald, 544 U.S. 460 (2005). Brief for the Cargo Airline Association regarding the preemptive effect of the Commerce Clause and of the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 on laws regulating the delivery of wine by carriers.
• University of Illinois v. Fujitsu Limited, 546 U.S. 812 (2005). Brief in opposition to a certiorari petition on behalf of Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu Hitachi Plasma Display Limited involving the limits on federal appellate court jurisdiction over provisional interlocutory orders regarding state sovereign immunity in patent cases.
• Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Limited v. International Game Technology, Case No. 2008-1016 (Fed. Cir.) (pending). Brief on behalf of Neurotechnology Industry Organization regarding power of Patent and Trademark Office to revive “unintentionally abandoned” applications.
• Kearney v. Foley & Lardner LLP, No. 07-55566 (9th Cir.) (pending). Brief for appellee Foley & Lardner regarding constitutional and statutory limits on suing attorneys under RICO and common law for conduct undertaken in prior litigation on behalf of governmental entity.
• Bankwest, Inc. v. Baker, 433 F.3d 1344 (11th Cir. 2006). Brief on behalf of the American Financial Services Association in support of rehearing en banc and also on the merits after rehearing was granted, regarding the preemptive effect of Section 27(a) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act on a state law regulating in-state agents of banks chartered by other States based on the interest rate charged.
• ICO Global Communications (Holdings) Limited v. FCC, 428 F.3d 264 (D.C. Cir. 2005). Brief for appellants and oral argument seeking to overturn the revocation of mobile satellite service licenses due to the arbitrary application of previously unclear requirements.