CODY REAVES represents individuals and corporations in all stages of litigation, with a focus on appeals and critical motions.
Cody has written or co-authored dozens of briefs, critical motions, and pleadings in federal appellate and trial courts, and has argued before the Sixth Circuit. He also maintains an active pro bono practice. One prominent legal writing expert recently named a brief Cody co-drafted as better than the typical work product of “elite” Supreme Court advocates.
Cody’s recent Supreme Court cases include:
- Representing two former professional football players as amici at the certiorari stage and the merits stage in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (No. 21-418), a case addressing (1) whether a public-school employee’s brief, quiet prayer by himself while at school and visible to students is government speech that lacks First Amendment protection, and (2) whether, assuming that this religious expression is private and protected by the First Amendment, the Establishment Clause nonetheless compels public schools to prohibit it.
- Representing professors and practitioners of psychiatry, psychology, and medicine as amici in support of certiorari in Hope v. Harris, et al. (No. 21-1065), a case involving whether decades of solitary confinement can, under some circumstances, violate the Eighth Amendment.
- Representing religious organizations as amici in support of certiorari in Mast v. Filmore County, Minnesota, 141 S. Ct. 2430 (2021), a successful challenge to state laws that violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA).
- Representing religious institutions as amici in support of the application for writ of injunction in Agudath Israel of America v. Cuomo (No. 20-A90), a successful challenge to an executive order that imposed occupancy limits on houses of worship.
- Representing election-law experts as amici defending state laws against “faithless” presidential electors in Chiafalo v. Washington, 140 S. Ct. 2316 (2020), and Colorado Department of State v. Baca, 140 S. Ct. 2316 (2020).
His other recent matters include:
- Successfully representing an American multinational manufacturer of food products in obtaining dismissal of a multimillion-dollar class action lawsuit alleging unlawful business practices and deceptive advertising.
- Successfully representing the world’s largest equity derivatives clearing organization in obtaining dismissal of an application for review to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
- Briefing an opposition to a motion for entry of judgment on behalf of one of the nation’s largest railroads and successfully defending that result on appeal to the Fourth Circuit.
Before joining Sidley, Cody served as a law clerk to Judge Deborah L. Cook of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Prior to his clerkship, Cody worked in the Antitrust practice group at a law firm in New York, where he represented professional sports leagues and companies in complex antitrust litigation. During law school, he served as a legal extern to Judge John Robert Blakey of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Cody earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School, where he served as managing editor of the Michigan Journal of Law Reform. As a member of the law school’s Federal Appellate Litigation Clinic, he co-authored appellate briefs and petitions for certiorari, and argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.