Right at this moment, the Supreme Court is not an issue in the campaign, although partisans on both sides will no doubt keep trying to make it one as we get closer to November.  One reason the court is not an issue right now is that the chief justice has done a superb job of lowering the court's profile. It's hard to get the nation ...

Well, it looks like John McCain will have to stop using Roberts-Alito as if it were one word to describe his preferred type of judicially restrained nominee. In recent disquisitions about judges, McCain has been trying to simultaneously shore up his conservative base without riling up his moderate friends. It's a difficult rope to walk without ...

Thanks, Orin, for replaying some of my greatest hits on the judicial role and the separation of powers. As I mentioned in my earlier posts on Sen. McCain's remarks, he and I are in large agreeement on the quality of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, and unlike him, I am willing to openly add Justices Scalia and Thomas—who seem rather ...

In covering John McCain's effort to win friends with the conservative base by praising Chief Justice Roberts and Associate Justice Alito (which I agree they deserve, not because they are reflexively conservative, but because they are jurists who are admirably dedicated to an objective appraisal of the law as written), the ...

John McCain's harsh assessment of the federal judiciary is unworthy of him. While his praise for the separation of powers and judicial restraint is fine, and unexceptional, Senator McCain's suggestion that there is a flaw in the constitutional design or that the Supreme Court is an unchecked, or renegade body is simply off-base.  ...

The ''facial'' vs. ''as applied'' distinction animates the minimalism of the Roberts Court. You may remember that Chief Justice Roberts gave a speech at Georgetown shortly after his confirmation, saying that what doesn't have to be decided in a case shouldn't be. But, of course, Chief Justice Roberts also said that he would be pursuing a larger ...

Sen. Clinton may or may not be the next Democratic nominee for president. But her candidacy represents to many voters a positive statement in favor of gender equality. I've cast my lot with Sen. Obama, but if he fails to cross the finish line, I bet it will have less to do with the overheated statements of his pastor or his bowling than with ...

[by Rich Ford]Diane, Here's a take on Snyder and words left unsaid:  Justices Roberts' and Alito's position in Snyder is perfectly consistent with a strict and rigorous colorblindness interpretation of the equal protection clause-- i.e. the same position they both adopted last term in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle.  ...

 Stopping the Justices from voting before they know the answer – A proposal for reversing the internal operations of the Supreme Court of the United States. Douglas W. Kmiec Heller has already been identified as a test of the fidelity to precedent and restraint of the Roberts Court.  That following oral argument, it seems possible if ...

[Doug Kmiec]  Oh, Second Amendment, we hardly knew ye.  The Second Amendment has two main parts: a preamble and an operative provision. The preamble: ''a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state,'' is a statement of purpose. The operative provision: ''the right of the people to keep and bear arms, ...