Constitutional Law

Doug Kendall: The Term Thus Far

Doug Kendall, who discussed the conservative judicial project in this excellent introduction to the 2007-2008 Supreme Court term, examines the Court's decisions thus far this term in an article in Slate, concluding that "by investing heavily in legal strategy and working patiently in case after case, the [Chamber of Commerce] has won victories that have gradually shifted the ground rules in its favor." He writes:

With the Supreme Court term moving past the halfway mark, corporate America's long-term investments in the federal judiciary are yielding impressive returns. . . . In the wake of [Lewis] Powell's memo [that, 37 years ago, alerted the Chamber of Commerce to a "neglected opportunity in the courts"], the business community seeded a vast body of scholarship and created a nationwide network of pro-business legal organizations. This investment has quietly borne fruit for decades—and, this term in particular, landed corporate America the wins that thrilled [the Chamber of Commerce's Executive Vice President Robin] Conrad, and more besides.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on March 06, 2008 (boomark / email).