Thursday round-up

By Adam Chandler
on Dec 17, 2009 at 10:13 am

Some commentary on Monday’s orders continues.  At the Cato @ Liberty blog, Ilya Shapiro analyzes the Court’s action in the Chrysler bankruptcy dispute, Indiana State Police Pension Trust v. Chrysler.  On Monday, the Court dismissed the petition as moot and vacated the Second Circuit opinion below, “eras[ing] a terrible precedent from the federal judiciary’s books and reaffirm[ing] years of settled bankruptcy law,” according to Shapiro.  Also, Emily Bazelon of Slate discusses City of Ontario v. Quon, the text message privacy case.

Writing about the fantasy Supreme Court league FantasySCOTUS.net, CNN’s Bill Mears reveals that “several [J]ustices are aware of the fantasy league and find it interesting.”  Citizens United-watchers may be interested to know that “about two-thirds of FantasySCOTUS players predict the conservative-majority court will undercut the current spending limitations imposed by Congress.”  With that result in mind, Paul Abrams encourages Huffington Post readers to write letters to Justices Kennedy and Alito to influence their positions in the Citizens United case.

Bill Mears of CNN also reports that retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is leading an initiative to end judicial elections in the twenty-one states that elect top state judges.  In other O’Connor news, Above the Law has launched a contest based on one of Justice O’Connor’s recently debuted educational video games.

The Volokh Conspiracy’s Orin Kerr comments on the fruits of C-SPAN’s effort to put its archived programs online.  The collection includes recordings of Justice Kennedy and Robert Bork’s confirmation hearings and “many hours of law geekery for you.”

A post at PrawfsBlawg revisits last Term’s decision in Arizona v. Johnson, a Fourth Amendment case about pat-down searches and traffic stops. Fabio Arcila writes that the Court’s opinion “nonchalantly wiped off the law books an entire jurisprudential debate with one blithe sentence.”

Looking ahead to the next vacancy on the Court, Tim Graham of National Review Online takes note of Chuck Todd’s prediction that Janet Napolitano would be the President’s next choice for the Supreme Court.  Todd’s prediction provoked Ed Whelan to offer his initial assessment of Napolitano as a nominee, also at National Review Online.

And finally, the Associated Press (via The New York Times) describes Justice Sotomayor’s arrival in Puerto Rico.  She told reporters at a news conference that she would eat “mofongo, a local delicacy made from mashed plantains.”