Supreme Court in the News
It’s August in Washington, D.C. and that means it’s hot and quiet.
Most Members are home justifying to their constituents Congress’ actions
or inactions, or they are off traveling so they don’t have to do either.
The U.S. Supreme Court is on summer recess as well, but news from the high court
has been less than quiet. Take, for example, the troubling news of Chief Justice
John Roberts’ fall and hospitalization. That followed accusations that
the Court’s newest members, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, were
ignoring precedent.
Supreme Court news, however, has not all been bad this summer. According to
a recently released national poll by Quinnipiac University, the Supreme Court
has a higher approval rating (45 percent) than the other branches of government.
Congress received the lowest rating, with a mere 20 percent job approval rating.
President George W. Bush came in a close second with 29 percent.
The looming question for the Justices, however, is why their most recent approval
ratings dropped from 58 percent reported at the beginning of May? Perhaps the
slide is related to the high-profile, highly-controversial decisions issued
in June, the Court's final month of the term.
Recently, Thomas Kirby, a senior litigation partner with Wiley Rein LLP, joined CFIF Corporate Counsel and Senior Vice President Renee Giachino to discuss the Supreme Court’s October 2006 Term and some of the cases on the calendar for the October 2007 term.
What follows is the interview originally heard on "Your Turn - Meeting Nonsense With Commonsense" on WEBY 1330 AM, Northwest Florida's talk radio...[Listen to the interview here.]