Supreme Court set to open crucial term

Supreme Court set to open crucial term

David G. Savage
Tribune News Service
Sunday, Oct. 02, 2011

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court today opens one of its most anticipated terms, in which the justices could strike down President Barack Obama's healthcare law, empower local police to arrest illegal immigrants, and declare an end to affirmative action in colleges and universities.

The cases going before the court "address some of the central issues facing the country," former Solicitor General Walter Dellinger said. The clashes over healthcare and immigration "are not mere lawyers' issues but fundamental questions about how the country is governed."

Elizabeth Wydra, chief counsel for the Constitutional Accountability Center in Washington, said, "By June of 2012, this may prove to be among the most momentous terms in recent decades."

The justices will decide over the next few months whether to hear the cases. If they do, rulings will be handed down by late June, just as the presidential campaign moves into high gear.

The major issues:

Immigration: Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer wants the court to rule that states and their police can question and arrest illegal immigrants. Lower court judges blocked Arizona's law from taking effect, saying the federal government has exclusive control over immigration. But last week, a judge in Alabama cleared parts of a similar state law to go into effect there.

A ruling upholding the Arizona immigration law would encourage more states and cities to adopt measures that crack down on illegal residents.

Affirmative action: In September, two white students who were turned down for admission by the University of Texas appealed to the high court, saying officials wrongly used race to favor minority applicants. Their appeal urges the court to outlaw the use of race as an admissions factor in public universities.

Healthcare: Republican officials from 26 states urge the justices to rule that the Democratic-controlled Congress overstepped its power by regulating the health insurance market. They want the court to void the requirement that all Americans have health coverage by 2014 or pay a tax penalty.

A decision to strike down the law would be the court's most dramatic veto of major national legislation since the justices struck down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first New Deal measures in 1935.

This is indeed an incredibly important term for the Supremes. And Sonya better recuse herself from the Obamacare case.

Then we may have a 4-4 vote.

TexasBlue wrote:Then we may have a 4-4 vote.

Better than a 5-4 vote in favor of Obamacare... at least I hope so.