The Supreme Court case of the Office of Senator Mark Dayton v. Hanson was one that pitted Senator Dayton against one of his employees. This unique employment case was brought forth by a staffer for the Senator, who claimed that he had been treated unfairly based upon violations of several legislative acts. His attempt to make an appeal to the highest court was stopped by the justices because of a lack of jurisdiction over such an appeal.
Hanson alleged that Senator Mark Dayton's office had not only violated the Family and Medical Leave Act, but it also failed to follow the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act. The United States Supreme Court was in accord on the case, ruling 8-0 that they did not have the right or jurisdiction to hear such an appeal from the Senator's staffer. They claimed that the court did not hold jurisdiction to hear the case based upon ruling 2 U.S.C. Sec. 412. The ruling stated that there was no question over the constitutionality of the three listed acts. Hanson may have been more successful had he filed his appeal based upon other statutes, but the Supreme Court never made mention of that being the case.
It stands as one of the more interesting Supreme Court decisions based upon the fact that the ruling was accompanied by a full opinion on the decision. The court normally does not entertain the possibility of providing such a report, but did so in this case.
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