Friday round-up

MARISSA MILLER DEC 23, 2011 9:41 AM

Today’s clippings focus on the ripple effects of the Court’s decision to grant cert. in Arizona v. United States, as well as the continuing responses to Newt Gingrich’s recent criticisms of the Court and the federal judiciary.

In the wake of the Court’s announcement that it will review S.B. 1070, Arizona’s immigration law, several states with similar laws have asked the lower federal courts to put challenges to those laws on hold pending the Court’s decision. However, a federal judge in South Carolina has blocked enforcement of that state’s law, as Don Jeffrey of Bloomberg News reports.  Robbie Brown of the New York Times, the Associated Press (via the Washington Post), and the State’s Noelle Phillips also have coverage. The Eleventh Circuit also rejected requests by Georgia and Alabama to stay proceedings in that court; the Associated Press (via the Chicago Tribune) and Jeremy Redmon of the Atlanta Journal Constitution also have coverage. Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Star reports that Indiana made a similar request regarding its own immigration law.

Today’s coverage also includes additional responses to Newt Gingrich’s comments earlier this week about the Court. Washington Post columnist George Will argues that “Gingrich’s unsurprising descent into sinister radicalism—intimidation of courts—is redundant evidence that he is not merely the least conservative candidate, he is thoroughly anti-conservative.” In a post at American Lawyer Daily, law professor Steven Harper compares Gingrich’s proposal to subpoena judges before congressional committees with the policies of Nazi Germany. USA Today provides a summary of responses on both sides to Gingrich’s statements.

Briefly:

• Dan Rivoli of the International Business Times discusses the Court’s notable cases in 2011.
• At Huffington Post, Mark Steinberg has a satirical piece titled Supreme Court Rules Congress Is Unconstitutional.
• As Kiran reported in yesterday’s round-up, the Alliance Defense Fund has filed a cert. petition asking the Court to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision prohibiting a charter school from using texts and documents deemed to be religious.  The Idaho Press has more coverage.
• The Alliance Defense Fund has recently filed another cert. petition as well, in a case challenging a university’s denial of official recognition to two Christian organizations that required members or students leaders to agree with the organizations’ religious beliefs.  The Foundry, the blog of the Heritage Institute, has coverage.
• Shawn Turner at Hotel News Now previews RadLAX Gateway Hotel, LLC v. Amalgamated Bank, in which the Court will consider whether a debtor may pursue a Chapter 11 plan that proposes to sell assets free of liens without allowing the secured creditor to credit bid, but instead provides the equivalent of its claim.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY