CNN
Chief justice urges action on court vacancies
By Bill Mears, December 31, 2010
Washington (CNN) -- Chief Justice John Roberts urged the Senate in his annual year-end report Friday to move swiftly in filling vacant federal judgeships, calling it a "persistent problem" requiring urgent attention.
The nation's top federal judicial ethics panel told a judge in Maryland five years ago that his membership on the board of an anti-regulatory group violated two canons of ethics, provoking his immediate resignation from the board. But the authority's opinion was not published until this month and three other federal judges - including one of the nation's 13 circuit court chief justices - presently sit on the same group's board.
The Washington Post
For judges, inconsistent use of ethics rules is evident
By R. Jeffrey Smith, December 24, 2010
Adam Liptak's must-read, front-page story in this past Sunday's New York Times examines in significant and compelling detail the increasingly favorable disposition of the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Robert towards corporate interests, highlighting a newly released empirical study by Constitutional Accountability Center (CAC) that tracks the success of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce before the Court over most of the last 30 years.
The New York Times
Justices Offer Receptive Ear to Business Interests
By Adam Liptak
December 19, 2010
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has filed briefs in support of Wal-Mart, Citizens United, led by David Bossie, and AT&T Mobility in cases heard before the Roberts court.
The United States Constitution: It’s not just for conservatives anymore.
The political left, with backers that include billionaire George Soros, plans to launch a new organization today that will try to steer the federal judiciary in its direction.
The Constitutional Accountability Center will be headed by Doug Kendall, who for a decade has run the Community Rights Counsel, a public interest law firm and judicial ethics watchdog.
Stateline
Arizona's next immigration debate: babies born in U.S.
By Daniel C. Vock
December 16, 2010
Fresh off of passing a law to combat illegal immigration that was so controversial the federal government sued to block it, Arizona’s Republican-controlled Legislature is poised to push the limits of immigration policy yet again, this time by challenging the basic rules that decide who is an American.