SALON

Sunday, May 27, 2012 2:45 PM UTC

Justices’ summer plans point to late June finish

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Justices' summer plans point to late June finishFILE - In this Oct. 6, 2011 file photo, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia participates at the third annual Washington Ideas Forum at the Newseum in Washington. 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. Professor Antonin Scalia, will put his law students through their paces in Innsbruck, Austria. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)(Credit: AP)

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.

The court meets again Tuesday to issue opinions.

___

While cameras in the courtroom seem as unlikely as ever, the court has continued to adapt to the times. Beginning June 1, the court will change its website (www.supremecourt.gov) “to improve the mobile device user experience.” The site will be able to detect when a mobile device is being used and will automatically adjust the display based on the screen size and orientation, according to the public information office.

This follows other recent changes that put transcripts of arguments online on the same day they occur and argument audio recordings by the end of the week.

More Mark Sherman.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments are not enabled for this story.

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations