The Washington Legal Foundation filed its brief with the Supreme Court on December 5, 2000 urging it to reverse an opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that gave cursory appellate review of the imposition of excessive punitive damages. Instead, WLF argued that because excessive punitive damages violates the Due Process Clause, an appellate court must provide independent or de novo review of the trial court’s ruling on the issue as several other circuit courts of appeals have done.