None of them were about the Patient Protection & Affordable Health Care Act.
Today's opinion dump:
- Southern Union Co. v. United States
- Knox v. Service Employees
- Dorsey v. United States
- FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc.
You can read the live blog over at SCOTUSblog.com or wait here for Adam B's expert analysis later this afternoon.
In summary:
Southern Union Co. v. United States: Overturned 6-3 (mixed group). Opinion: Sotomayor with Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Ginsburg, and Kagan. Dissent: Breyer, Kennedy, and Alito. Southern Union was fined $50,000 per day for 762 days of improper Mercury Storage for total fine of $38.1 million. Essence, for government to impose a multi-day fine, a jury must agree. Fine reduce to $50,000.
Knox v. SEIU: Overturned 7-2 (conservative majority). Opinion: Alito with Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, and Thomas. Concurrence: Sotomayor with Ginsburg. Dissent: Breyer with Kagan. Essence, payment of union dues requires an opt-in.
Dorsey v. United States: Vacated and remanded 5-4 (liberal majority). Opinion: Breyer with Kennedy, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan. Dissent: Scalia with Roberts, Thomas and Alito. Essence, criminals should be sentenced under the newest available guidelines for determining sentence length.
FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc.: Vacated and remanded 8-0 (unanimous). Opinion: Kennedy, with Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Breyer, Alito, Kagan. Concurrence: Ginsburg. Abstained: Sotomayor. Essence, if the FCC is going to fine companies for indecency, it must actually provide guidelines for what indecency is. Decision come under due process clause and not first amendment clause (the latter cannot adjudicated until the FCC actually promulgates indecency standards).
8:53 AM PT: Rec List? It must be a slow day for one of my diaries to finally make the Rec List. ☺
11:39 AM PT: Thanks to Adam B: Knox v. SEIU states that payment of union dues for all ideological advocacy must be opt-in, translation it doesn't affect payment of dues for representation purposes.
11:41 AM PT: See more in-depth discussion in Adam B's diary.
12:36 PM PT: And more discussion in kos' diary.