Tuesday round-up

By Nabiha Syed
on Sep 13, 2011 at 8:15 am

With the first Monday in October less than three weeks away, coverage continues to focus on next Term’s merits cases.  In an op-ed for the New York Times, Jeffrey Rosen discusses United States v. Jones, in which the Court will consider whether the police must obtain a warrant before placing a GPS tracking device on the car of a criminal suspect. He argues that the case could “radically transform our experience of both public and virtual spaces.”    And in the Washington Post, Robert Barnes previews Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders, in which the Court will consider whether the Fourth Amendment allows a prison to conduct strip searches whenever an individual is arrested.  [Goldstein & Russell, P.C. represents the petitioner in the case.]

At the Brennan Center for Justice, Sidney S. Rosdeitcher begins a series of posts considering the impact of last Term’s decisions with a discussion of AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion and Wal-Mart v. Dukes and their effects on the availability of class actions.  He argues that both decisions “threaten to severely curtail – and even altogether deny – access to the class action in public interest litigation and deprive vulnerable persons of these important benefits.”

Finally, the Gainesville Sun and the University of Florida Independent Florida Alligator report on two speeches given by retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on Monday. Justice O’ Connor expressed dismay over the state of civics education in America, asserting that “the biggest challenge we face today in our judicial government is the lack of understanding of the public of the role of courts in our country.”

Briefly:

• Reflecting on the anniversary of September 11 terrorist attacks, Gerard Magliocca considers how to best ensure continuity of government at the Supreme Court in a post at Concurring Opinions.