Parker Rider-Longmaid

In Reed v. Goertz, No. 21-442, 143 S. Ct. 955 (2023), Mr. Rider-Longmaid led a team from Skadden, the Innocence Project, and other firms to secure a U.S. Supreme Court victory for longtime pro bono client Rodney Reed, a Texas death-row inmate who has steadfastly maintained his innocence for more than two decades. Mr. Rider-Longmaid argued the case, his first before the Supreme Court, in October 2022, after convincing the Court to grant review in April 2022. In April 2023, the Court sided with Mr. Reed, reversing the Fifth Circuit and holding that his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suit seeking DNA testing of crime-scene evidence was timely. The decision has significant ramifications for inmates with innocence claims seeking access to DNA testing.

Reed was one of four Supreme Court merits cases that Skadden’s Supreme Court and Appellate Practice briefed and argued during the Court’s 2022 Term — more than almost any other law firm. Mr. Rider-Longmaid helped guide strategy and lead drafting in each of those cases. He also helped convince the Court to grant review in two cases for the October 2023 Term and one case for the October 2024 Term.

Beyond the Supreme Court, Mr. Rider-Longmaid also plays leading roles in the Practice’s major matters before the federal courts of appeals. His work ranges from constitutional and administrative law to tax, preemption, arbitration, antitrust, bankruptcy, class-certification, and employment, as well as federal Indian law, criminal defense and habeas corpus, and voting rights. Mr. Rider-Longmaid’s work has led to significant wins, including:

• A precedent-setting victory for NextEra Energy and 9REN Holding in the D.C. Circuit, which held that the district court had jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act’s arbitration exception to enforce approximately €400 million in awards the companies secured against the Kingdom of Spain for violating the Energy Charter Treaty. NextEra Energy Global Holdings B.V. v. Kingdom of Spain, Nos. 23-7031, 23-7032,— F.4th —, 2024 WL 3837484 (D.C. Cir. Aug. 16, 2024)
• A stay pending appeal in the Fifth Circuit for Airlines for America, the National Air Carrier Association, and the International Air Transport Association of the effective date of a Department of Transportation final rule on airline ancillary service fees on the grounds that the Rule likely exceeds the DOT’s authority and would result in irreparable harm to airlines absent a stay. Airlines for America v. Department of Transportation, No. 24-60231 (5th Cir. July 29, 2024)
• A critical stay pending appeal by a unanimous Fifth Circuit panel of an unprecedented religious-liberty training order directed at in-house attorneys of Southwest Airlines on the grounds that the order likely exceeded the district court’s civil contempt authority and was likely unconstitutional. Carter v. Southwest Airlines Co., No. 23-10536 (5th Cir. June 7, 2024)
• A complete victory for Norfolk Southern Railway Co. before the Fourth Circuit in an antitrust case brought by CSX Transportation seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, in which the Court agreed that CSX’s claims were time-barred. CSX Transportation, Inc. v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co., No. 23-1537, — F.4th —, 2024 WL 3974989 (4th Cir. Aug. 29, 2024)
• A groundbreaking victory for the Eaton Corporation in Sixth Circuit transfer-pricing cross-appeals with more than $350 million at stake, where the court stated the “tax collector” is not “above the law” and “sid[ed] with Eaton on all issues presented.” Eaton Corporation & Subsidiaries v. Commissioner, 47 F.4th 434, 436-37 (6th Cir. 2022)
• An 8-4 victory on behalf of Preferred Collection and Management Services, Inc., before the en banc Eleventh Circuit, which ordered the district court to dismiss the plaintiff’s Fair Debt Collection Practices Act claim for lack of Article III standing — a first-of-its-kind en banc opinion after the Supreme Court’s decision in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 141 S. Ct. 2190 (2021). Hunstein v. Preferred Collection & Management Services, Inc., 48 F.4th 1236 (11th Cir. 2022) (en banc)
• A precedent-setting victory for Airlines for America (A4A) before the Ninth Circuit, which held that civil penalties can make government action regulatory and subject it to federal preemption, and remanded the case for the district court to consider A4A’s preemption arguments under the Airline Deregulation Act, Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and Railway Labor Act. Airlines for America v. City and County of San Francisco, 78 F.4th 1146 (9th Cir. 2023)
• A victory for Viking USA LLC in the Second Circuit, which held that the U.S. Maritime Administration reasonably determined that a lease of a vessel allowed Viking to operate cruises along the Mississippi River, and that the agency complied with its notice-and-comment requirements — a question of first impression in the courts of appeals. American Cruise Lines v. United States, 96 F.4th 283 (2d Cir. 2024)

Mr. Rider-Longmaid maintains an active pro bono practice, representing clients in criminal, habeas, immigration, and constitutional cases at all levels of the federal courts. For example, he secured a Fourth Circuit win for a defendant erroneously sentenced as a career offender, United States v. Cannady, 63 F.4th 259 (4th Cir. 2023), and habeas relief for a client whose criminal defense attorney failed to provide him with the effective assistance of counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment, Cook v. Foster, 948 F.3d 896 (7th Cir. 2020), following oral arguments in which judges praised his advocacy.

In recognition of his work, Mr. Rider-Longmaid was named a 2023 D.C. Rising Star by The National Law Journal and has been repeatedly selected as one of The Legal 500’s Rising Stars of the appellate bar and one of Best Lawyers’ Ones To Watch in America (including in their 2024 edition). He was also selected for inclusion in Benchmark Litigation’s 2024 40 and Under list and Lawdragon’s 2024 500 X — The Next Generation list, and recognized as one of Business Insider’s 2022 Rising Stars of the Courtroom. Mr. Rider-Longmaid’s success before the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts of appeals contributed to Skadden’s recognition on The National Law Journal’s 2023 Appellate Hot List.

Before joining Skadden, Mr. Rider-Longmaid worked at another global law firm and served as a law clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (2016 to 2017). From 2015 to 2016, he served as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice. During that time, he successfully argued a Second Circuit appeal, assisted with numerous cases before the Supreme Court and advised the Solicitor General on cases pending before the lower federal courts. Before that, Mr. Rider-Longmaid clerked for Judge Anthony J. Scirica of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Judge Gene E.K. Pratter of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Before law school, Mr. Rider-Longmaid taught seventh and eighth-grade math and science in the School District of Philadelphia as a Teach for America Corps member.