Attorney David Betras Like kids counting the days until Christmas, attorneys, legal scholars and jurisprudence junkies, including me, eagerly anticipate the first Monday in October, the day the Supreme Court of the United States begins its new term each year. We can barely control ourselves as we wait for the justices to decide which of the 7,000 cases submitted to them annually become one of the 150 or so they hear. Under normal circumstances, the justices go about their work in relative obscurity because the cases on the Court’s docket, which is dominated by battles between states over water rights, business disputes, and arguments about arcane legal principles, do not impact the lives of most Americans or generate much media coverage aside from long, jargon-packed pieces posted on SCOTUSblog. Believe me, if you have insomnia, spend a few minutes on the site and you will be sleeping in no time. This year, however, is far from normal. Although the 2021-2022 term is less than two weeks old, the court is under intense scrutiny because justices have agreed to hear a number of cases that may ignite legal and societal firestorms while further undermining the public’s waning support for a […]
