Earlier this month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals shot down the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on a piracy theory (my post here). This week, Greenpeace is in the hotseat. This case arises from a preliminary injunction obtained by Shell Oil Company against Greenpeace for protest activities in the Arctic. The case is Shell Offshore, Inc. v. Greenpeace, Inc. and it can be found here.
The 2-1 decision affirmed the Alaska District Court's injunction against various protest activities directed at Shell's exploration vessels.
This case has several different and thorny legal issues, including First Amendment, corporate status, jurisdictional reach of federal court's injunction power.
Of special note, the Ninth Circuit found that the federal court had supplemental jurisdiction over Shell's claims beyond the territorial sea (where the court's diversity jursidiction power ends), but before Shell's vessel was attached to the seabed (where the court's Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act jurisdiction would lie).
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