Wednesday round-up

By Anna Christensen
on Dec 16, 2009 at 9:58 am

Coverage of the Court’s Monday orders continues.   David Savage of the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle’s Bob Egelko have stories on Carachuri-Rosendo v. Holder, an immigration case in which the Court will address whether legal permanent residents who have been charged multiple times for drug possession but not labeled as repeat offenders can be deported.  On Monday Lyle covered those cases, as well as the cert. grants in Robertson v. U.S. ex rel. Watson and City of Ontario v. Quon, for SCOTUSblog.

In the Detroit News, David Shepardson discusses the Court’s summary order removing the last challenge to the deal that saved automaker Chrysler.  Because of the Court’s decision, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports, the Indiana pensions which filed the appeal will lose the $6 million they stood to obtain from the automaker’s assets.  At the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Newswire’s Brent Kendall notes that the Court’s decision to send the case back to the Second Circuit for dismissal on the ground that the case was moot, rather than rejecting the appeal outright, represents a bright spot for critics of the deal, as the appellate court’s decision will not constitute binding legal precedent.  A second Wall Street Journal article, as well as a JURIST piece, cover the Chrysler dispute as well.

The Chicago affiliate of ABC News reports on the denial of certiorari in Adames v. Beretta USA Corp., a challenge to a 2005 law providing immunity to gun manufacturers.  The petitioners in the case were the family members of a teenager who was accidentally shot and killed by a friend.

Also commenting on Monday’s orders, Sentencing Law and Policy points out the abundance of criminal justice cases on the Court’s docket this term.   The author suggests that – perhaps because of the arrival of Justice Sotomayor on the Court – these disputes, and the many other “exciting and dynamic” cases to be argued in the coming months, may not be decided along the traditional “right/left” lines that often characterize the Court’s opinions.

As Lyle reported on Monday here on SCOTUSblog, the Court also announced Monday that it had scheduled oral argument for March 1 – approximately three weeks earlier than expected – in the case of former Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling’s conviction, adding the case to the already-scheduled February 2010 sitting.  The Wall Street Journal has coverage of that development.

The suspense continues to build over the Court’s anticipated ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, which was argued in September.  At issue in the case is a component of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law’s prohibition on independent expenditures immediately preceding an election.  Mark Green, writing for the Huffington Post, suggests that the Court is likely to overrule that prohibition, making a definitive ruling in the ongoing “contest between a democracy of voters and an economy of capital.”  Adam Liptak also reports on the Citizens anticipation at the New York Times, pointing out that the Court’s decision to re-hear the case turned a minor procedural dispute into a “potential blockbuster” and speculating that the slow pace of the decision could complicate the coming election cycle.

At Conglomerate, David Zaring previews his forthcoming paper on the frequency with which the Justices rely on legislative history in formulating their decisions.  His piece includes a preliminary but informative graphic detailing legislative history use by individual Justices.

Finally, the AP reports that Justice Sotomayor will arrive in Puerto Rico today for the first time since being sworn in as the Court’s newest member earlier this year.  As the first Hispanic Justice on the Court, Sotomayor has become a celebrity in Puerto Rico, and was invited to visit by a group of judges from the territory.