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Friday round-up

Analysis of Wednesday’s argument in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, in which the Court is considering the scope of the “ministerial exception,” continues.  In an editorial at the Wisconsin Gazette, Charles C. Haynes weighs in, characterizing the case as potentially having “far more impact on religious freedom than any ruling handed down by the high court in more than a decade.”  At Slate, Dahlia Lithwick summarizes the case as being one “about line-drawing,” with “both lines get[ting] blurrier as the morning [went] on,”  while Garrett Epps of the Atlantic concludes that this could be a case in which “everyone could be a loser.”    In the “Bench Memos” blog at the National Review Online, Richard Garnett analyzes the oral argument and predicts that “the Court will be able to articulate a test close to what Hosanna-Tabor has suggested,” which “will create a minimum of state intrusion into the sphere of the church.”  Catholic News Agency, Baptist Press News, and Debra Cassens Weiss of the ABA Journal all have coverage.  And at Jurist, Erin Bock covers both of Wednesday’s arguments, in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC and Golan v. Holder.

Coverage of the testimony by Justices Breyer and Scalia before Senate Judiciary Committee hearing (which Kiran covers here in yesterday’s round-up) also continues.  At the Atlantic, Andrew Cohen described the testimony as “a convivial chat between the landed gentry and the tenant farmers,” while at Slate, Dahlia Lithwick observes that by giving the public a glimpse of the “Steve and Nino Show,” the Justices inadvertently “[made] the case for cameras in the courtroom.”  Phillip Smith of StoptheDrugWar.org, Ian Millhiser at ThinkProgress, Vermont’s WCAX News, and the New York Post all also have coverage. 

On Thursday afternoon, Justice Scalia spoke at the Newseum’s Washington Ideas Forum.  He discussed issues including the libel case New York Times v. Sullivan, gridlock in Washington, and the primary role of the Court.  Bob Cohn at the Atlantic, Christine Delargy at CBS News, and the ABC News Blog provide coverage of the event.  Also yesterday, Justice Breyer dedicated the moot courtroom at the University of Richmond’s T.C. Williams School of Law.  Coverage of the event comes from the Associated Press (via the Washington Post) and Richmond’s Collegian newspaper.  And in light of his recent appointment to the jury of architecture’s Pritzker Prize, he also spoke recently with Robin Pogrebin of the New York Times about architecture.

Finally, coverage of the Affordable Care Act’s path to the Court continues. In commentary at CNN International, Aaron Carroll weighs in, describing this Term as “a pivotal moment for the Supreme Court, for politics, and for the future of health care reform in the United States.”   The National Journal reports on comments made by Representative Paul Ryan, who predicts that the Court will strike down the individual mandate, while Reuters summarizes the effects that the Court’s ruling could have on the law.

Recommended Citation: Kiera Flynn, Friday round-up, SCOTUSblog (Oct. 7, 2011, 1:28 PM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2011/10/friday-round-up-96/