Roberts Court Takes Narrow Path to the Right

Obama too timid on federal nominees, with big issues coming

(NEWSER) - With big issues working their way toward the Supreme Court on such vital issues as health care reform, same-sex marriage, affirmative action, and police stops of undocumented immigrants, liberals need to be on guard, writes longtime court-watcher Emily Bazelon for the New York Times . Sure, there are solid progressives, such as Obama appointees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. But frequent swing vote Anthony Kennedy, while he may side with liberals on occasion, has a voting record on par with Ronald Reagan. More»

Justices will hand down 26 of the most contentious opinions beginning today

(NEWSER) - The Supreme Court is poised to begin unveiling decisions today in some of the year's most heated cases, reports USA Today. As the term winds down, the 26 final opinions will be released on select days in June, and include clashes over Guantanamo detainees, DC's handgun ban, and the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. More»

Or at least, with parts of it

(NEWSER) - Today the Supreme Court heard the final arguments in the case over Arizona's controversial immigration law, and it's not looking good for the Obama administration. Justices seemed decidedly skeptical about the Justice Department's central argument that the law impinged on the federal government's power to control immigration, the Washington Post reports. "What could possibly be wrong," John Roberts asked, with having police check detainees' immigration status, and pass the information to the federal government? More»

Supreme Court could well strike down controversial law

(NEWSER) - Yesterday's oral arguments in front of the Supreme Court went well for opponents of President Obama's health care law. "The government had in my view as bad a day as it reasonably could," the founder of SCOTUSblog says. "It won't cause the government to have a complete cardiac arrest—they'll just be nauseous for months." But here's what Politico is taking out of the proceedings, as today's final arguments loom:

• It's Roberts or Kennedy: If Obama's going to get a fifth vote, it's going to be from John Roberts or Anthony Kennedy—and both sounded skeptical of the individual mandate yesterday.

High court ruled unanimously against software giant

(AP) - A classic David and Goliath scenario played out today as the Supreme Court ordered Microsoft to pay small Toronto software company i4i a $290 million judgment for infringing on one of its patents in its popular Microsoft Word. Lower courts ruled that Microsoft willfully infringed on the patent, and ordered the world's largest software maker to pay i4i $290 million and stop selling versions of Word containing the infringing technology. More»