Covington’s Robert Long Named to Law360’s Appellate A-List

WASHINGTON, DC, December 4, 2014 — Law360 named Covington & Burling partner Robert Long to its “Appellate A-List,” a regular feature that profiles the nation's leading appellate litigators.

In a profile on Mr. Long, Law360 highlighted his appearance before the U.S. Supreme Court in the litigation concerning the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. At the high court’s request, Mr. Long argued the position that plaintiffs’ challenge to the constitutionality of the health care law was barred by the Anti-Injunction Act, which prohibits challenges to federal taxes until they have been paid.

In an interview, Mr. Long told Law360 that he keeps on his desk the souvenir hand-cut quill pens given by Court to all those who present oral argument.

According to the profile, “Long says each of the 18 quills he's amassed tells a unique story, from 2010’s Robertson v. U.S. ex rel. Watson, which helped clarify how courts can resolve the nation’s troubling backlog of cases against defendants accused of breaching domestic violence protective orders, to 2007’s Watters v. Wachovia Bank NA, which held that federal law trumps state law in the regulation of national banks’ operating subsidiaries.”

In addition to the 18 cases he has argued before the Supreme Court, Mr. Long has played a substantial role in the briefing or oral argument of more than 150 appeals. He is chair of the firm’s appellate and Supreme Court litigation group.

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