- Posted May 30, 2012
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
Justices' summer plans point to late June finish
By Mark Sherman
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- One never knows when the Supreme Court will hand down its last, often biggest, opinions of the term. But the justices' summer travel schedules make it a pretty safe bet that blockbuster health care and immigration cases will be decided by the end of June.
That's because Professor John Roberts, also known as Chief Justice of the United States, has a morning law school class to teach the first week of July. On Malta.
To the north, and at a much higher elevation, Professor Antonin Scalia, will put his law students through their paces in Innsbruck, Austria.
At least two other justices, Samuel Alito and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, also will spend part of July teaching American law students at summer programs in Europe.
Justices have long used summer teaching gigs to add $10,000 to $20,000 to their incomes and also subsidize the cost of family vacations in very desirable locations. It's a coup for the schools to get a justice to lead a class.
Justices can accept roughly $25,000 in additional income for teaching and speaking, beyond their salary of $213,900 a year. The chief justice earns about $10,000 a year more.
Roberts will be in the Mediterranean island nation of Malta for a program led by the South Texas College of Law in Houston and the William Mitchell College of Law in Minneapolis. The Minnesota school is the alma mater of Warren Burger, who was the chief justice when Roberts served as a law clerk at the high court.
Scalia's Tyrolean adventure high in the Austrian Alps is through the St. Mary's University law school in San Antonio, Texas.
Alito is going to Florence for Penn State University's program while Ginsburg will take part in Wake Forest programs in Venice and Vienna.
The health care and Arizona immigration cases are the biggest of the 17 cases that remain to be decided by the end of June. But the justices still have to decide on the constitutionality of the Federal Communications Commission policy on regulating curse words and nudity on television, a law making it a crime merely to lie about having been awarded the Medal of Honor and other military medals and life sentences with no chance of parole for 13- and 14-year-olds.
Still, the court is far ahead of its pace in recent years. Nearly twice as many cases were unresolved at this time last year.
In part, the justices appear to have made a concerted effort to clear the decks for the biggest cases.
Ginsburg and Scalia have done their part to make that happen. They have each written seven opinions so far this term, leading the court. The oldest justice at 79, Ginsburg has such a reputation as a speedy writer that Roberts recently joked that it typically takes her just four weeks to churn out an opinion -- lightning fast at the Supreme Court.
Justice Clarence Thomas and Alito each have written four majority opinions for the court, the smallest output.
Published: Wed, May 30, 2012
headlines Oakland County
- Associations gather for Spring Fling
- Law school’s team wins William and Mary Colonial Cup Competition
- Supreme Court makes it easier to sue for job discrimination over forced transfers
- Oakland County Physician bound over on insurance fraud charges
- Innocence Project leaders present at University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School Spring Symposium
headlines National
- Incarceration series includes female inmates but doesn’t tell full story
- ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform
- Former DOJ official who alleged election fraud violated at least one ethics rule, ethics committee says
- Winston & Strawn will provide reduced-cost legal services for routine tasks under Winston Legal Solutions umbrella
- Should Justice Sotomayor retire? Chemerinsky, White House haven’t joined calls for her to step down
- Which BigLaw firms are increasing lateral associate hiring the most? One made legal headlines last year