Details on today’s opinions
on Jun 20, 2011 at 12:40 pm
This morning the Court issued four decisions. Â For the complete list of cases for the Term, click here.
The first opinion was in Turner v. Rogers, which was announced by Justice Breyer.   By a vote of five-to-four, with a majority composed of the Court’s more liberal members and Justice Kennedy, the Court vacated the decision of the Supreme Court of South Carolina and remanded for further proceedings. The Court first held that although the petitioner has already served his sentence and alleges no collateral consequences will follow from the state’s action against him the case is not moot because it is “capable of repetition†while “evading review.â€It then held that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause does not automatically require the state to provide counsel at civil contempt proceedings to an indigent noncustodial parent who is subject to a child support order, even if that individual faces incarceration. In this case, however, the petitioner’s incarceration violated due process because he received neither counsel nor the benefit of alternative procedural safeguards that would reduce the risk of an erroneous deprivation of liberty. Justice Thomas filed a dissenting opinion, which Justice Scalia joined in full. Justice Alito and the Chief Justice join as to Parts I-B and II, declining to join Justice Thomas’ discussion of the original meaning of the Constitution.
The second opinion of the day, announced for the Court by Justice Ginsburg, was in American Electric Power v. Connecticut. The Court reversed and remanded to the Second Circuit. The Court first held by an equally divided court that at least one plaintiff existed to file the lawsuit. The Court then held that the Clean Air Act and EPA’s implementation of the Act displace any federal common-law right to seek abatement of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel fired power plants. If EPA does not set emissions limits for a particular pollutant or source of pollution, States and private parties may petition for a rulemaking on the matter, and EPA’s response will be reviewable in federal court. Thus, the Court ruled that the Act itself provides a means to seek limits on emissions of carbon dioxide from domestic power plants—the same relief the plaintiffs seek by invoking federal common law. On the merits of that issue, the decision was unanimous; Justice Alito wrote an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, which Justice Thomas joined. (Sotomayor, J., recused.)
Justice Kennedy announced the opinion for the Court in Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri. By a vote of eight to one, the Court held that a government employer’s allegedly retaliatory actions against an employee do not give rise to liability under the First Amendment’s Petition Clause unless the employee’s petition relates to a matter of public concern. The Court vacated and remanded the case to the Third Circuit. Justice Scalia filed an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part; he would not have held that the Petition Clause contains a “public importance†requirement but would have held that the Clause does not extend to petitions directed to the government as the petitioner’s employer.
The last opinion for the day was in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, announced for the Court by Justice Scalia. The Court unanimously voted to reverse the Ninth Circuit, holding that the class was not consistent with Rule 23(a) and should not have been certified, and that the respondents’ backpay claims were also improperly certified under Rule 23(b)(2).  Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan joined the opinion as to parts I and III. Justice Ginsburg filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, which Justices Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan joined.
We expect more opinions on Thursday, there will be a Live Blog beginning at 9:45 a.m.
