Washington, D.C.
1501 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005

Phone 202.736.8496
Fax 202.736.8711

Practice Areas
General Appellate
Litigation
United States Supreme Court

Eric A. Shumsky, Associate

ERIC A. SHUMSKY is an associate in SidleyÕs Washington, D.C., office. His practice focuses on appellate law and related complex litigation.

Mr. Shumsky has filed numerous briefs before the United States Supreme Court, state supreme courts, and the federal courts of appeals on a wide range of issues. He has been a primary author of more than 40 briefs of all types in the Supreme Court, including petitions for certiorari, merits briefs and amicus briefs. Among other issues, he has briefed cases concerning federal preemption; takings; punitive damages; copyright; the First Amendment Speech and Religion Clauses; the Federal Employers' Liability Act; and the Clean Air Act. He also has significant experience representing criminal defendants pro bono before the Supreme Court, including cases concerning the constitutionality of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines; the constitutionality of mandatory minimum sentences; and the requirement that only Article III judges sit on Article III courts.

In addition, Mr. Shumsky has done substantial work in the federal courts of appeals and state supreme courts, including the Second, Third, Fourth, D.C. and Federal Circuits, as well as the California and Georgia Supreme Courts and the D.C. Court of Appeals. He also regularly contributes legal analysis to trial-court litigation presenting unusual or complex issues of law. Most recently, this has included a federal constitutional challenge to a state price-fixing statute, and issues of sovereign immunity concerning repudiated sovereign debt.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Shumsky clerked for the Hon. M. Margaret McKeown of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the Hon. Wm. Matthew Byrne, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Mr. Shumsky is a graduate of Yale Law School, where he served as Correspondence Editor on the Yale Law Journal , and was awarded the Thomas Emerson Prize for best paper on a subject related to legislation. That article, "The Religious Freedom Restoration Act: Postmortem of a Failed Statute," was subsequently published at 102 West Virginia Law Review 81 (1999). He has also published articles concerning legal issues in The Washington Post and the Detroit Free Press , and appeared as a legal commentator on Fox News. He is a member of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court and the ABA Council of Appellate Lawyers.

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