Thursday round-up

With the Courts November sitting beginning next week, coverage focuses on next Monday’s argument inKirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, in which the Court will consider whether copyrighted works purchased abroad can be resold within the United States without the copyright owner’s permission. At Slate, John Villasenorsummarizes the issues raised by the case, and he concludes that the Court might “make copyright law even more restrictive.” Andrew Albanese ofPublishers Weeklyreports on efforts by library associations to support petitioner Supap Kirtsaeng, while Marketa Trimble contends at theTechnology & Marketing Law Blogthat the statutory language at issue allows the Court to make a free policy choice between different principles of copyright exhaustion.

The Court will also hear argument on Monday inClapper v. Amnesty International USA,in which it will consider whether plaintiffs challenging warrantless wiretapping under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act of 2008 have standing, when they cannot prove that they will be monitored. Writing atPolitico, Bill Binney and J. Kirk Wiebe argue that the Court should find standing and allow the courts to determine the constitutionality of warrantless wiretapping. Josh Bell of the ACLU’sBlog of Rightsalso has commentary on the case.

Briefly:

• Justice Kennedy delivered the annual Joseph Story lecture at the Heritage Foundation yesterday. Video of the event is available fromC-SPAN.(Thanks to Howard Bashman for the link.)
• Damon W. Root ofReasonargues that “the stakes [in the presidential election] are high when it comes to the future of the Supreme Court.”
• Emily Phelps of theConstitutional Accountability Centerdiscusses the Court’s decision not to overturna Ninth Circuit stay that left in place Montanas limits on political contributions to candidates for state office, which Conor also covered in yesterday’sround-up.
• AtBalkinization, Neil Siegelargues that the Chief Justice was right on the taxing power but wrong on the commerce power in his opinion in the health care case.
• The Room for Debatepage of The New York Times hosts a debate on whether to amend the Constitution to overturnCitizens United v. FEC.
• Tom Barnidge reports on a recent question-and-answer session with Justice O’Connor in San Francisco for theMercury News.
• Stephanie Mencimer profiles Tom Goldstein forThe Atlantic, which also features a video interview of Goldstein by Garrett Epps.
• Hannah Ellis of theTennessee Journalistreports on a recent visit by Justice Kagan to the University of Tennessee College of Law.