Roberts Court

The Roberts Court prior to Scalia's death, October 2010
Back row (left to right): Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen G. Breyer, Samuel A. Alito, and Elena Kagan. Front row (left to right): Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Chief Justice John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The Roberts Court refers to the Supreme Court of the United States since 2005, under the leadership of Chief Justice John G. Roberts. It is generally considered more conservative than the preceding Rehnquist Court, as a result of the retirement of moderate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and the subsequent confirmation of the more conservative Justice Samuel Alito in her place.^[1]

Membership

Roberts was originally nominated by President George W. Bush to replace Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who had decided to retire from the Court. However, Roberts was instead nominated to replace Chief Justice William Rehnquist after the latter's death, and Roberts's nomination was confirmed by the Senate in 2005. Roberts took the Constitutional oath of office, administered by senior Associate Justice John Paul Stevens at the White House, on September 29, 2005, almost immediately after his confirmation. On October 3, Roberts took the judicial oath provided for by the Judiciary Act of 1789, prior to the first oral arguments of the 2005 term. The Roberts Court commenced with Roberts as Chief Justice and eight holdovers from the Rehnquist Court: Stevens, O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer. O'Connor was replaced in 2006 by Samuel Alito, who was nominated by President Bush after the withdrawal of Bush's first nominee, White House Counsel Harriet Miers. In 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to replace Souter, and in 2010 Obama nominated Elena Kagan to replace Stevens. Justice Scalia died in February 2016, and in March 2016 Obama nominated Merrick Garland. As of April 2016, Garland's nomination is pending before the Senate, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley have stated that the Senate will not confirm a nominee until after the 2016 presidential election.^[2]

Chief Justice Associate Justice

Rulings of the Court

In its first ten years, the Roberts court has issued major rulings on gun control, affirmative action, campaign finance regulation, abortion, capital punishment, gay rights, and criminal sentencing. Major decisions of the Roberts Court include:^[3]^[4]

Massachusetts v. EPA (2007): In a 5-4 decision in which the majority opinion was delivered by Justice Stevens, the Supreme Court upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's right to regulate carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act.
District of Columbia v. Heller (2008): In a 5-4 decision in which the majority opinion was delivered by Justice Scalia, the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment applies to federal enclaves, and that the amendment protects the right of individuals to possess a firearm, regardless of service in a militia. McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010), in a 5-4 decision written by Justice Alito, extended this protection to the states.
Ashcroft v. Iqbal (2009): In a 5-4 decision written by Justice Kennedy, the court reversed the Second Circuit's decision not to dismiss a suit against former Attorney General John Ashcroft and others that claimed that the FBI engaged in discriminatory activities following the 9/11 attacks. The court also extended the heightened pleading standard established in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly (2006), which had previously applied only to antitrust law. The number of dismissals greatly increased after the Iqbal ruling.^[5]
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010): In a 5-4 decision in which the majority opinion was delivered by Justice Kennedy, the Court held that the provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act which regulated independent expenditures in political campaigns by corporations, unions, and non-profits violated First Amendment freedom of speech rights.
National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012): In a 5-4 decision written by Justice Roberts, the Court upheld most of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, including the individual mandate to buy health insurance. The mandate was upheld as part of Congress's power of taxation. In a subsequent case, King v. Burwell (2015), the Court again upheld Obamacare, this time in a 6-3 opinion written by Justice Roberts.
Arizona v. United States (2012): In a 5-3 decision delivered by Justice Kennedy, the Court held that portions of Arizona SB 1070, an Arizona law regarding immigration, unconstitutionally usurped the federal authority to regulate immigration laws and enforcement.
Shelby County v. Holder (2013): In a 5-4 decision delivered by Justice Roberts, the Court struck down Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which provided a coverage formula for Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The latter section requires certain states and jurisdictions to obtain federal preclearance before changing voting laws or practices, in an effort to prevent those states and jurisdictions from discriminating against voters. Without a coverage formula, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is no longer in effect.
Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014): In a 5-4 decision delivered by Justice Alito, the Court exempted closely held corporations from the Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate on the basis of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Obergefell v. Hodges (2015): In a 5-4 decision delivered by Justice Kennedy, the Court held that the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause both guarantee the right of same-sex couples to marry.

Judicial philosophy

The Roberts Court has been described as "conservative in most cases, liberal in some," with (prior to the death of Justice Scalia) five conservative-leaning justices and four liberal-leaning justices. Alito, Thomas, Kennedy, Roberts, and Scalia (prior to his death) generally have taken more conservative positions, while Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan have generally taken more liberal positions. Souter and Stevens had also been part of the liberal bloc prior to their respective retirements. These two blocs of voters have lined up together in several major cases, though Justice Kennedy has often sided with the liberal bloc. Roberts has also served as a swing vote, often advocating for narrow rulings and compromise among the two blocs of Justices.^[4]^[6] Though the Court often does divide along ideological lines, attorney and SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein has noted that many cases are decided 9-0 and that the individual judges hold a wide array of views.^[7]

The judicial philosophy of Roberts on the Supreme Court has been assessed by leading court commentators including Jeffrey Rosen^[8] and Marcia Coyle.^[9] Although Roberts is identified as having a conservative judicial philosophy, his vote in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012) upholding the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has caused reflection in the press concerning the comparative standing of his conservative judicial philosophy compared to other sitting justices of conservative orientation. Roberts is also compared to other recent conservative justices no longer on the Court. Regarding William Rehnquist, Roberts is seen as having a more moderate conservative orientation particularly when Bush v. Gore for Rehnquist is compared to Roberts' vote for ACA.^[10]

Regarding Roberts' immediate and current peers on the bench, his judicial philosophy is seen as more moderate and conciliatory than that of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.^[8]^[10] Unlike Scalia, Roberts has not indicated any particularly enhanced reading of originalism or framer's intentions as has been plainly evident in Scalia's speeches and writings.^[9] Roberts' strongest inclination on the Court has been to attempt to re-establish the centrist orientation of the Court as being party neutral, in contrast to his predecessor Rehnquist who had devoted significant effort to promote a states rights orientation for the Court. Roberts' voting pattern reflecting his conservative judicial philosophy is most closely aligned to Samuel Alito on the Court,^[11] the latter of whom has also become associated with libertarian trends in the conservative judicial philosophy.^[8]

List of Roberts Court opinions

Main article: List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Roberts Court

References

↑ Liptak, Adam (2010-07-24). "Court Under Roberts Is Most Conservative in Decades". New York Times (New York, New York). Retrieved 2010-08-05.
↑ Bell, Benjamin (6 April 2016). "Merrick Garland: Where His Supreme Court Nomination Goes From Here". ABC. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
↑ Chiusano, Scott (29 September 2015). "Landmark decisions during John Roberts’ decade as Chief Justice". New York Daily News. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
1 2 Wolf, Richard (29 September 2015). "Chief Justice John Roberts' Supreme Court at 10, defying labels". USA Today. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
↑ Liptak, Adam (18 May 2015). "Supreme Court Ruling Altered Civil Suits, to Detriment of Individuals". New York Times. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
↑ Fairfield, Hannah (26 June 2014). "A More Nuanced Breakdown of the Supreme Court". New York Times. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
↑ Goldstein, Tom (June 30, 2010). "Everything you read about the Supreme Court is wrong (except here, maybe)". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
1 2 3 http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/magazine/104898/john-roberts-supreme-court-aca
1 2 Marcia Coyle, The Roberts Court: The Struggle for the Constitution, 2013
1 2 Scalia, Antonin; Garner, Bryan A. (2008) Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges (St. Paul: Thomson West) ISBN 978-0-314-18471-9.
↑ http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/06/24/upshot/24up-scotus-agreement-rates.html?abt=0002&abg=0