Friday round-up

Thursdays coverage of the Court primarily looked ahead to some of the high-profile cases still to be argued this Term. In Shelby County v. Holder, scheduled for oral argument on February 27, the Court will consider the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act; at The Nation, Ari Berman examines the history of the Act and the challenges to it, while atACSblogJeremy Leaming summarizes some of the amicusbriefs filed in defense of the Act. Also atThe Nation, Nan Hunterdiscusses the briefs filed so far in the same-sex marriage cases,Hollingsworth v. Perry(Proposition 8) andUnited States v. Windsor(DOMA), and reaches the surprising conclusion that the gay marriage debate is really all about heterosexuals.

Briefly:

• This blog continued itssymposiumon the gene patenting issue presented inAssociation for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., with one post bySusan McBee and Bryan Jonesand another byAndrew Torrance.
• AtPatent Docs, Donald Zuhn summarizes theamicusbrief filed before the Court by the Washington Legal Foundation inBowman v. Monsanto, in which the Court is considering the applicability of the doctrine of patent exhaustion to self-replicating technologies.
• AtJost on Justice, Kenneth Jost reviews Justice Sotomayors new memoir,My Beloved World.
• In advance of President Obamas State of the Union address next Tuesday, Bill Mears of CNNlooks at the Justices evolving tradition of attendance at the speech.