Brian Fitzpatrick

Media Appearances

• Trump files class action lawsuits targeting Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube over ‘censorship’ of conservatives

  “The fact that they benefit from a federal law does not transform someone into the federal government,” said Brian Fitzpatrick, a professor of law at Vanderbilt University. “All of us benefit from laws at some point or another and that doesn’t transform us into the federal government.”

  July 7th, 2021

• Trump sues Twitter, Facebook, Google – and immediately begins fundraising off the effort

  “I think the lawsuit has almost no chance of success,” Vanderbilt University law professor Brian Fitzpatrick told CNBC in a phone interview. The tech platforms are private entities, not government institutions, and therefore the plaintiffs’ claims about constitutional violations do not hold up, Fitzpatrick said.

  July 7th, 2021

• As Tesla Solar Roof customers file another lawsuit, California is set to decide whether to combine them into a single class-action complaint

  That order was to be expected, since the cases were similar, said Brian Fitzpatrick, a professor at Vanderbilt Law School and author of "The Conservative Case for Class Actions." Otherwise, he added, "multiple judges could end up reinventing wheels in similar cases."

  May 23rd, 2021

• Barrett’s Record: A Conservative Who Would Push the Supreme Court to the Right

  “There may be fewer surprises from someone like her than there were from Justice Scalia,” said Brian T. Fitzpatrick, a former law clerk to the justice and a law professor at Vanderbilt University. “She is sympathetic to Justice Scalia’s methods, but I don’t get the sense that she is going to be a philosophical leader on how those methods should be executed.”

  October 15th, 2020

• She was a professor at Notre Dame and I’m sure some of her ideas have been shaped and influenced by her students: Prof. of Law on SCOTUS nominee

  Brian Fitzpatrick, Vanderbilt University Professor of Law, joins The First Trade panel to discuss the latest with the SCOTUS hearings.

  October 15th, 2020

• Barrett Offers Supreme Court Many Paths to Erode Abortion Rights

  The court could reconsider the landmark 1973 ruling. In recent years, anti-abortion legislators have passed dozens of abortion bans as potential “litigation vehicles” for overturning Roe, said Brian Fitzpatrick, a law professor at Vanderbilt Law School, who focuses on judicial selection and constitutional law. “There is an appetite for testing out whether the Supreme Court might overrule Roe v. Wade.”

  October 11th, 2020

• Trump-appointed judges under an election-year political lens

  “I think it’s very unusual to make it so explicit that this decision had nothing to do with the judge’s predispositions,” said Brian Fitzpatrick, a Vanderbilt University law professor. “That is something that normally should go without saying.” But as Fitzpatrick noted, those who sift and weigh a judge’s decisions often overlook the fact that judges must act within the tight confines of law and jurisprudence and “don’t have unfettered discretion like politicians think they do.”

  September 24th, 2020

• Supreme Court could tip its hand on Roe v. Wade as soon as Tuesday by taking Indiana abortion case

  “You have three pretty solid votes to uphold most of this, one very likely vote, Kavanaugh, and the chief justice, [but] he could be peeled off now and again,” said Brian Fitzpatrick, a former clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia who teaches law at Vanderbilt University. “I would put my wagers on upholding most of these laws.”

  May 27th, 2019

• Supreme courts Elections Courts Politics Alabama U.S. News North America Donald Trump State abortion bans may hand Democrats a political weapon

  Brian Fitzpatrick, a Vanderbilt Law School professor and former aide to Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said there are many “women, moderate women who are going to be scared that this right that they thought they had for the last 40-some years is going to be shelved” and they will be motivated to vote.

  May 25th, 2019

• Big Tech Vs. Big Privacy Lawsuits

  Brian Fitzpatrick, a Vanderbilt University law professor, shares some of Senatore’s concerns. Law firms working with state attorneys general create potential conflicts of interest, he says, including the risk of AGs being influenced by campaign contributions. The worries may not be unfounded; Edelson’s firm has made a number of $10,000 donations in Illinois, including to the state’s current attorney general. Edelson responds that his firm backs politicians who “care about the same issues we do.” Fitzpatrick says forced arbitration is the greater harm because it deprives consumers of the right to sue and shields companies from accountability.

  February 23rd, 2019