U.S Supreme Court Begins Fall 2008 Session
Justices to Avoid Affecting Election Season or Financial Markets
Oct 5, 2008
As the U. S. Supreme Court opens the new term on October 8, 2008, from the choice of cases to be heard it is assumed that the justices are trying to avoid anything that might bring turmoil into the election and/or the financial markets. It will put off to a later session any cases to do abortion, race or social issues. Meanwhile, political pundits ponder the next makeup of the court, depending on whether McCain or Obama wins the presidency.
Supreme Court Cases Fall 2008
So far, according to the Raleigh, NC News and Observer, (Oct. 4, 2008), the biggest cases to be presented to the Court are:
- Efforts by drug makers and tobacco companies to limit consumer lawsuits under state law.
- Navy and environmentalists disagreement over the use of sonar in training exercises, potentially harming marine mammals.
- A suit against former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller by a Pakistani man who claims he was badly treated after being rounded up following the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers.
- Whether federal anti-discrimination laws cover people who allege they faced retaliation after cooperating with their employer's internal investigation.
- A third attempt at resolving a punitive damage award to a smoker's widow.
In addition, the court will hear a number of criminal cases, several of which will explore the limits of police power to search and arrest suspects without warrants.
In particular interest to business groups, state government and consumer advocates are cases that involve suits over false advertising of cigarettes and the liability of the manufacturer of a drug that was improperly injected into a patient causing disastrous results.
Supreme Court After the Election
One case the court may be holding over until June 2009, after the new president is in office, is the hearing on the constitutionality of a key provision of the Voting Rights Act and the president's authority to seize and detain people in the United States as enemy combatants, indefinitely and without facing criminal charges.
During 2009, Justice John Paul Stevens will be 89; Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 75 and said to be in poor health; Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Beyer, are all in their 70s. There are questions whether Justice Souter may be anxious to return permanently to his home in New Hampshire.
It is expected that if there are retirements during the next four years, if McCain is elected the U.S.Supreme Court would become more conservative and Obama would select more left-of-center justices which could alter the balance of power, depending upon the individual retirements.
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