Supreme Court Delivers Five, Important 5-4 Rulings—The Roles Played by Justices Roberts and Alito Are Key

On Thursday, June 28^th, the Supreme Court ended its term, by issuing several important rulings, five of which were extremely important, 5-4 rulings, in which Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito combined with Justices Scalia, Kennedy and Thomas to bring narrow victories over the four more liberal Justices, Stevens, Souter, Ginsberg and Breyer. A review of these five cases will manifest their importance. Conservatives will applaud President George Bush for two excellent appointees; liberals will be unhappy. But whatever one’s political persuasion may be, an understanding of these five rulings is important.

The summaries that follow are admittedly laced with this writer’s opinions. But there is nothing wrong with that. This is a private picnic event, and these statements do not necessarily represent the opinions of either my church or my city or of Jim & Sarah Olson. They are the considered thoughts of one who has followed the Supreme Court with great interest for many years. I hope my comments can help all of us to better understand the state of our Constitution.

Below are the five cases.