GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Document Type

Brief

Publication Date

2026

Status

Working

Abstract

This is an amicus brief in support of a U.S. Supreme Court petition for certiorari in King v. United States (No. 25-856), in which GW Law School's GW Law’s Administrative Law, Issues, and Appeals Clinic represented government contracts expert, GW Law Professor Steven L. Schooner). Petitioners—retired UPS employees William King, Stephen Dardzinski, and the Estate of Anthony Gugliuzza (on behalf of a class of retirees and pension beneficiaries)—challenge the Federal Circuit’s novel “underlying assets” test (created in reviewing a matter initially decided in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims), which withholds per se Takings Clause protection for vested rights to payment unless the claimant also owns the assets used to pay. The brief explains how that rule unnecessarily departs from Supreme Court precedent and deepens a pre-existing circuit split. It also warns that the rule invites retroactive abrogation of contractual obligations and, in turn, could force contractors into an arbitrary regulatory-takings framework that yields only de minimis relief.

This brief was prepared by the team of GW Law students Eric Frank, Giovanna Milano, Matt Novotny, Tegan Oliver, and Kaci Waguespack, under the supervision of Professor Aram Gavoor, through GW Law School’s Administrative Law, Issues, and Appeals Clinic.

GW Paper Series

2026-16

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