Collision Course

Roberts and Obama

Presidential maneuvering aside, an epic showdown is in the cards this year for Team Obama and the Roberts Court. I am certain that there is no one that Obama fears more in DC than Chief Justice John Roberts. A timely piece on the matter by Jonathan H. Adler, writing for National Review Online:

Today marks the opening of what could be a blockbuster Supreme Court term. When the Court adjourned in June, it had already agreed to hear a number of important cases implicating everything from “fleeting expletives” on television and the application of civil-rights laws to religious employers to GPS surveillance of criminal suspects and the ability of Congress to direct executive action in foreign affairs. Additional high-profile cases, such as those concerning same-sex marriage and Arizona’s notorious immigration law, were already waiting in the wings. Then, in August, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit invalidated the individual mandate. This decision virtually ensured that a challenge to the recently enacted health-care-reform law would reach the High Court, but when? It appears the time is now. Last week, the Obama administration declined to seek additional review before the Eleventh Circuit, filing a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court instead. The stage is set for what could be the term of the decade — if not also for many more decades to come.