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Tuesday round-up

Writing for UPI, Michael Kirkland concludes that the Term “will go down in the history books as a triumph for the First Amendment,” and for “the ongoing emergence of Justice Anthony Kennedy as one of the most powerful people in U.S. government.”  Several reporters and commentators emphasize the Court’s pro-business rulings:  at the San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko deems the Term especially noteworthy for its pro-business rulings, while Dahlia Lithwick of Slate describes the Term as “Christmas in July for big business,” explaining that “slowly but surely, the Supreme Court is giving corporate America a handbook on how to engage in misconduct.” But at Bloomberg, Ramesh Ponnuru rejects the characterization of the Roberts Court as pro-business and argues that the lack of a pro-business slant is a “shame,” because the “protection of commerce should be among [the Court’s] primary aims.”

Several articles explored the effects that the Court’s decision in the Arizona campaign finance cases could have on similar laws in San Francisco (the San Francisco Chronicle), New York City (the New York Post) and North Carolina (the Greensboro News-Record).  Writing for the Washington Post, George Will applauds the decision as “predictable, but gratifying.”  By contrast, Ken Jost – writing for his Jost on Justice blog – argues that “no decision better illustrates the conservatives’ disconnect with the real world” than the Arizona ruling. And writing at his Dorf on Law blog, Mike Dorf focuses on Justice Kagan’s dissent in the case, as does Frank Astin at the New Jersey Star-Ledger.

Finally, coverage of Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association continued to trickle in. Robert Barnes of the Washington Post compares the application of originalist principles to the case by Justices Scalia and Thomas, while at the Miami Herald, Cal Thomas criticizes the ruling, contending that the Justices “live in an unreal world.”  Elsewhere, one commentator opines that video games can be healthy: in a guest editorial at the Boston Globe, a child psychiatrist argues that “instead of talking about ways to ban violent video games, we’d be better off figuring out how to use them as a tool.” The editorial board of the Merced Sun-Star concludes that the Court made the right decision, and that “it’s parents’ responsibility to regulate use by children.”

Briefly:

  • In honor of Independence Day, Constitutional Law Prof Blog highlights two cases from this Term that reference the Declaration of Independence.
  • Justice Ginsburg comments that “the president should not expect a retirement letter [from her] before 2015,” the Associated Press reports.
  • At the Los Angeles Times, David Savage examines the contributions of Justice Thomas, twenty years after his Supreme Court nomination.

Recommended Citation: Nabiha Syed, Tuesday round-up, SCOTUSblog (Jul. 5, 2011, 8:50 AM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2011/07/tuesday-round-up-79/