Round-Up

In today’s Wall Street Journal, Jess Bravin has this article on Solicitor General Paul Clement – “one of the conservative legal movement’s brightest stars” – who is now charged with overseeing the Justice Department’s investigation into the controversy over the firing of U.S. attorneys; Peter Lattman weighs in here at the WSJ.com Law Blog.

Here, at PrawfsBlawg, Kristin Hickman reacts to Jeffrey Rosen’s essay (free registration req’d), “The Arrogance of Justice Anthony Kennedy”, in the current issue of the New Republic.

Also at PrawfsBlawg, Stuart Green has this post on the Court’s ruling in Bowles, “the kind of decision that one makes with one’s heart, and one’s soul”; Linda Greenhouse reports here for the New York Times on the decision, in which “the debate between the court’s two sides was vigorous and appeared to extend beyond the outcome of the particular case”; in today’s LA Times, David G. Savage has this story on Bowles, “the second time in a month that the court split along conservative-liberal lines over an issue of deadlines”; and Tony Mauro of the Legal Times reports here that “the low-profile case offers as good a glimpse as any into the sharp conservative-liberal divide emerging this term.”

Charles Lane of the Washington Post reports here on the Court’s unanimous decision in the Davenport union fees case; in the USA Today, Joan Biskupic reports here on the ruling that “endorsed a unique Washington state law that bars unions from using non-member fees for political advocacy without first getting explicit consent from the non-members”; Tony Mauro has this report for the First Ammendment Center; and in today’s Wall Street Journal, Bravin has this article (subscription req’d) and this editorial describes the decision as “a rebuke to the coercive tactics of Big Labor.”

In the New York Sun, Joseph Goldstein has this article on the Supreme Court’s 7-2 ruling in Permanent Mission of India v. City of New York, which “has opened the way for municipalities across the nation to hold foreign countries accountable for the tax abuses of their diplomatic staff in America”; Greenhouse has this article in today’s New York Times.

Aaron Streett’s latest “SCt Today” discussing the nine opinions, four grants and two CVSGs issued on June 4 and June 11 is available here at Baker Botts. Earlier this week at the Workplace Prof Blog, Paul Secunda discussed the Mendelson grant here.

In yesterday’s Washington Post, Robert Barnes had this article on Justice Alito’s speech at the National Italian American Foundation luncheon and his position on First Amendment rights.

Scott Nelson has this post at the Consumer Law & Policy Blog about the Court’s unanimous decision in Watson v. Philip Morris.