Panel of experts recap 2008-2009 Supreme Court term

The American Constitution Society held its "Sixth Annual Supreme Court Term in Review" Thursday afternoon at Mayer Brown LLP, 71 S. Wacker, Chicago. The panel consisted of Jeffrey W. Sarles, Partner, Mayer Brown; Gary Feinerman, Partner, Sidley Austin LLP and former Solicitor General of Illinois; Colleen Connell, Executive Director of the ACLU of Illinois; and Steven J. Heyman, Professor, Chicago-Kent College of Law. The panel was moderated by Steve Sanders, an Associate at Mayor Brown. Each member of the panel highlighted two cases from the term: Sarles: Ashcroft v. Iqbal and Gross v. FBL Financial Services Feinerman: Safford United School District v. Redding and District Attorney's Office v. Osborne Connell: Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee and Northern Austin Utility District v. Holder Heyman: Ricci v. DeStefano and Pleasant Grove City v. Summum Following the discussion moderator Sanders asked the panel if the conventional wisdom was correct in that Chief Justice Roberts was slowly moving the Court to the Right and making it the "Roberts Court". The panel agreed to a certain extent but stressed that Justice Kennedy will still be the deciding vote on many matters. The panel also stated that they could foresee Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and Chief Justice Roberts each trying to woo Justice Kennedy to their side.