Tuesday round-up

By Kiran Bhat
on Feb 15, 2011 at 10:08 am

There are no scheduled events at the Court today, and coverage of the Court during the last week of its winter recess is light.

Briefly:

• Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times reports that the campaign finance advocacy group Common Cause sent a letter to the Court asking for “further clarification” regarding a speech that Justice Thomas gave at a Federalist Society retreat in 2008 that was sponsored by the Koch brothers, who are supporters of conservative causes.
• At Balkinization, Michael Greve has an in-depth analysis of the Constitution’s Compact Clause and the pending cert. petition in S&M Brands v. Caldwell, a case involving a challenge to the Master Settlement Agreement for tobacco litigation.
• In light of a recent letter to the editor in the New York Times that criticized Justice Scalia’s meeting with the Congressional Tea Party Caucus, James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal asks (and discusses the answer to) a “mischievous question”:  what if Justice Scalia “were to sue for libel?”