Law professor Jonathan Adler suggests in a new National Review Online column that the new U.S. Supreme Court term that begins today could be one of the most important in memory.
When the Court adjourned in June, it had already agreed to hear a number of important cases implicating everything from “fleeting expletives” on television and the application of civil-rights laws to religious employers to GPS surveillance of criminal suspects and the ability of Congress to direct executive action in foreign affairs. Additional high-profile cases, such as those concerning same-sex marriage and Arizona’s notorious immigration law, were already waiting in the wings. Then, in August, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit invalidated the individual mandate. This decision virtually ensured that a challenge to the recently enacted health-care-reform law would reach the High Court, but when? It appears the time is now. Last week, the Obama administration declined to seek additional review before the Eleventh Circuit, filing a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court instead. The stage is set for what could be the term of the decade — if not also for many more decades to come.
