Tuesday round-up

By Nabiha Syed
on Feb 1, 2011 at 9:08 am

Although the Court is in recess, there is plenty of discussion about an  issue that might be on its docket in the not-too-distant future:  the constitutionality of health-care reform.  In light of yesterday’s ruling by a federal judge in Florida deeming the entire health-care law unconstitutional, Politico‘s David Nather analyzes whether the Court will review the case and how it might rule, while Daniel Fisher, writing for the Forbes Full Disclosures blog, notes that Chief Justice Roberts recently “signed off on a quite expansive view of the Necessary and Proper Clause.” At Slate, David Weigel reviews the decision and concludes that “[t]he fate of health care reform is where it was yesterday — in the hands of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy”; similarly, in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, William McGurn notes the role played by the late Senator Edward Kennedy in health-care reform and contends that the health-care law “may again need the Kennedy imprimatur” – here,  Justice Kennedy.

Briefly:

• Jost on Justice describes Justice Alito as “the Court’s most powerful Justice.”
• Justice Sotomayor reflects on life as a Justice, as Adam Liptak reports in the New York Times.