Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. v. Anderman/Smith Operating Co.

How later courts describe this case

• concluding that laches barred claim challenging state election procedure where plaintiff waited eleven weeks after ballots were public record and two weeks after it had actual knowledge of alleged irregularity
• concluding that laches barred claim challenging state election procedure where nature of claim requires expeditious prosecution and before filing claim, plaintiff waited eleven weeks after ballots were public record and two weeks after it had actual knowledge of alleged irregularity
• "Even assuming that [the employee's] right to petition was implicated, the Pickering/Connick balancing test is equally applicable in deciding whether the state's interest as an employer outweighs the [F]irst [A]mendment interest of the employee."
• award must at least be rationally inferable from the agreement