Special-edition round-up: today’s opinions

All eyes were on the Supreme Court today, as it released its four remaining decisions for the Term in Bilski v. Kappos (patents), Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (separation of powers), McDonald v. Chicago (guns), and Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (right of association) – all amidst the confirmation hearings of Elena Kagan, the final day on the bench for Justice John Paul Stevens, and the death of Martin Ginsburg, the husband of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  USA Today, Newsweek, WSJ Law Blog, and the Volokh Conspiracy all have round-ups of this momentous day.  In a special evening edition of the round-up, we have gathered media coverage of today’s opinions below.

The decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago, holding that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, was both the first opinion announced and the subject of the most coverage.  NPR had extensive coverage of the Court’s decision, as did the Washington Post’s Robert Barnes, Adam Liptak of the New York Times,  USA Today’s Joan Biskupic, CNN.com’s Bill Mears, Brian Montopoli of CBSNews, MSNBC, BBCNews, ACSBlog, and the Guardian.  David Ignatius of the Washington Post and James Allen Fox of the Boston Globe criticize the decision, while others are praising it.  The Volokh Conspiracy had two reviews of the decision while the New York Times and Ben Smith and, separately, Josh Gerstein and Abby Phillip from Politico discuss the effects of the decision in general, Jillian Scharr of NBC New York discusses the possible effects of the decision on New York City, and Josh Blackman looks at the future of the Privileges or Immunities Clause.  Meanwhile, the editorial board of the Christian Science Monitor emphasizes that “a gun right is not absolute.”   Lyle recapped the decision on SCOTUSBlog, which also has extensive coverage of, and hosts a debate regarding, the decision.

In Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, the Court held that the “all comers” policy for student organizations, at least as it exists at the Hastings College of Law, is reasonable and viewpoint-neutral and therefore constitutional, considering all of the surrounding circumstances.  The decision is covered by the Associated Press, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, CNN, CBSNews, Fox News, Christian Science Monitor, Forbes.com, and Bloomberg.  The Huffington Post and Religion Dispatches also provided commentary, as does Erica Goldberg at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

The long-awaited decision in Bilski v. Kappos also garnered a good deal of media attention.  The Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, Law.com, the New York Times, CNET, Forbes.com, ABC News, PCWorld, Bloomberg, Financial Times, the WSJ Law Blog, and two articles in the Washington Post all provided extensive coverage of the Court’s holding that the machine-or-transformation test is not the sole test for patent eligibility under Section 101 of the Patent Act.  Tom also recapped the decision this morning for SCOTUSBlog.

NPR, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the L.A. Times, ACSBlog, PCWorld, Huffington Post, Jurist, Forbes.com, Bloomberg, and three writers from the Wall Street Journal all covered the Court’s final decision of the Term in Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, holding that the dual for-cause limitations on the removal of Board members violated the Constitution’s separation of powers.  The New York Times also has coverage from Peter Henning, while Sheryl Gay Stolberg notes that the decision leaves Elena Kagan with an overall record of three wins and two losses at the Court.  Volokh Conspiracy’s Jonathan Adler and the Huffington Post’s Cynthia M. Fornelli also commented.