People For the American Way
Chamber’s Influence on Corporate Court Examined
By Paul, June 30, 2011

In the term that ended Monday, the Roberts Court continued its disturbing trend of removing the legal protections that are often the only way that individuals can avoid becoming victimized by giant corporations that dwarf them in size, wealth, and power. The Chamber of Commerce not only has been working to make this development happen, it has taken credit for it. As reported in Roll Call:

The liberal Constitutional Accountability Center released a report Tuesday pointing out the increasing philosophical alignment between the chamber and the Supreme Court.

The current court, led by Chief Justice John Roberts, has sided with the chamber’s position on business cases 65 percent of the time, more than it did under any previous chief justice.

“The chamber is having a great deal of success in helping to shape the docket of cases that the Supreme Court hears and then having a lot of success in winning the cases,” said Doug Kendall, a lead author of the report.

…

[T]he chamber has encouraged the notion that it is somehow influencing justices.

On the [Chamber’s] litigation center’s website, the group highlights a quote from Carter G. Phillips, a partner at Sidley Austin who often represents the chamber in the Supreme Court.

“Except for the solicitor general representing the United States, no single entity has more influence on what cases the Supreme Court decides and how it decides them than the National Chamber Litigation Center,” he said.

You can read more about the Constitutional Accountability Center’s report here.