Brenda R. Blalock v. Union Pacific Railroad Company

There are various questions being presented to this Court in this Petition for Writ of Certiorari. The first question: The ICCTA Preemption, found in 49 USC § 10501, provides that the Surface Transportation Board is granted exclusive jurisdiction over all matters tending to regulate the movement of trains. Rollins v. Home Depot USA provides that jurisdictional arguments are not forfeited when not raised at the District Court level.1 As such, the first question posed to this Court is as follows: Whether the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act’s granting of exclusive jurisdiction to the Surface Transportation Board is a jurisdictional issue, thereby permitting the exception in Rollins to the traditional rule that issues not raised at the District Court level are forfeited. The second question: The Fifth Circuit’s ruling in Rollins also states that issues that are purely legal in nature are not forfeited when the correlating legal argument is not raised at the District Court level.2 Traditionally, matters pertaining to jurisdiction are purely legal, as they are decided by the Courts prior to any presentation of evidence to a judge or jury in a hearing on the merits 1 8 F.4th 393, 398 (5th Cir. 2021). 2 8 F.4th 393, 398 (5th Cir. 2021).