The high court’s term started Monday with a full docket, though some say this fall’s cases are less momentous than those in previous terms.
Justices Hearing Arguments for Next Three Months
The Salt Lake Tribune has a brief overview of some of the higher-profile cases, such as Winter vs. Natural Resources. This case pits the U.S. Navy, who says certain military exercises using sonar are essential for natural security, against environmentalists who say sonar harms whales and other sea creatures.
National Public Radio’s Nina Totenberg also offers a court overview of a few of the biggest cases, including one involving pharmaceutical companies and state regulation.
Totenberg said the case centers on a musician in Vermont who received an injection of an antinausea drug made by pharmaceutical company Wyeth. The injection caused the woman to get gangrene, and part of her arm was amputated. Courts in Vermont said the company hadn’t done enough to warn people that the way the drug was injected has an increased risk of gangrene, Totenberg said. She added: “Wyeth is arguing that lawsuits like this one are barred, because the FDA approved its label. And for the first time, the federal agency is taking the side of the company.”
Opinion & Analysis: The size and significance of this year’s docket
But in an editorial the Los Angeles Times said this year’s cases “pale in significance” to the cases considered in the previous term, which addressed the right to bear arms, the death penalty for child rape and Guantanamo Bay prisoner rights.
“The importance of some of this term’s cases is also lessened because they involve not the meaning of the Constitution, on which the court has the final say, but the interpretation of federal statutes—which Congress can rewrite if it disagrees with the court’s understanding of its handiwork,” the editorial said.
Related Topic: The Troy Davis case
Last month, the Supreme Court issued a stay of execution for Davis, who was sentenced to death after he allegedly killed an off-duty policeman, according to findingDulcinea.