Media

If you read my post back in March after the oral argument before the Fourth Circuit in Turner v. City Council of Fredericksburg, Virginia, you know that it was quite an honor to have had retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the three-judge panel. And now Justice O’Connor has written the court’s opinion in the case, a July 23 unanimous decision in favor of our client, the Fredericksburg City Council.

In 2006, the Rev. Hashmel Turner, a member of the Fredericksburg City Council, took the bizarre step of suing his own City Council. Councilor Turner’s complaint? As an elected government official, he wants the special right to begin City Council meetings by offering a City Council prayer in the name of Jesus — a sectarian, non-inclusive prayer that excludes many Fredericksburg citizens. The City Council, however, following the Constitution and Supreme Court precedent, wisely adopted an inclusive policy requiring that any prayers offered to begin its meetings be nondenominational.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the consolidated cases of Crawford v. Marion Cty. Election Board and Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita, a case that could affect the fundamental right of Americans to vote and possibly even the outcome of future elections, including the 2008 election.

At issue in the case is whether Indiana’s photo voter ID law, which is the most restrictive in the nation, unconstitutionally burdens the fundamental right to vote.

Today, the Supreme Court set oral argument in the Indiana voter ID case for 10 a.m. on Wednesday, January 9, only 12 days after briefing is completed in this case. PFAWF has joined with many other civil rights groups, academics, and election officials in arguing that the restrictive voter ID laws imposed by Indiana disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of eligible voters, and disproportionately affect minorities, students, elderly, women, and the poor, while doing nothing to enhance the integrity of elections. A decision is expected by the end of the term in June.

On October 19, 2007, PFAWF joined 11 other civil rights groups in filing an amicus curiae brief in Sprint v. Mendelsohn, an employment discrimination case pending in the Supreme Court and one of the cases that we highlighted in our preview of the Court's term because of its importance to the right of employees who believe that they have been subjected to workplace discrimination to obtain justice in the courts. Other groups joining this brief include the NAACP, MALDEF, the National Women's Law Center, the Asian American Justice Center, and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, a diverse coalition underscoring the importance of this case to the civil rights community.

Court watcher Jeffrey Toobin is launching his new book, The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, with a round of media interviews. Asked by Time about "the impact of the two new Bush Justices, John Roberts and Samuel Alito," Toobin could not have been more blunt — or correct: "This is a much more conservative institution than it was two years ago. There will be no surprises with the Chief and Justice Alito. They are committed fervent judicial conservatives, and they're not going to change."

The first day of October will be the first day of the Supreme Court’s new term, and the justices have already chosen to hear several cases that may well be decided by narrow majorities, as Scalia and Thomas have been joined by Roberts and Alito to form a reliable, ultraconservative voting bloc, with Kennedy as the new swing vote on a Court transformed by Bush Administration nominees.

People For the American Way Foundation has published a preview of several of these cases — cases that could have a profound impact on the rights of Americans, the limits of presidential power, and the conduct of partisan politics. The issues at stake include: