County of Westchester v. Express Scripts

Summary

The court held that the plaintiffs’ disclaimers could not defeat federal-officer removal jurisdiction because the challenged rebate negotiations and resulting opioid-related harms were plausibly indivisible across federal and nonfederal clients. It further held that the defendants satisfied each element of the federal-officer removal statute, including acting under federal officers, a sufficient relationship between the alleged conduct and federal authority, and colorable federal defenses. The court reversed the remand orders and remanded for further proceedings without deciding the defendants’ ultimate liability under state law.