U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's resignation has led to discussion of how the court may swing to the right, given President Donald Trump's goal to appoint a more conservative jurist. Emory Law professor Jonathan Nash told 11Alive he expects a nominee will surface soon. "I think we'll have a nomination by then [the new term in October]," Nash said. "I don't know if we'll have a confirmation by then."
The Supreme Court's decision in WesternGeco LLC v. ION Geophysical Corp., which had had clear implications for patent law, "leaves to future cases a variety of important issues," Professor Tim Holbrook says. The court's decision was a narrow one, "but the opinion will likely will work as a roadmap for future litigants to raise them," Holbrook writes in a recent opinion article.
When TV star Roseanne's show was canceled after she posted an offensive tweet about Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett, some questioned whether it was a fireable action, or should have been viewed as protected free speech. Emory Law's Alex Lilly, a rising 3L, wrote on the topic for Above the Law.
"For people on both sides of the Masterpiece Cakeshop issue, it was a disappointing day," Senior Lecturer Mark Goldfeder writes for CNN. "They hoped that the Supreme Court on Monday would once and for all strike a new balance between religious freedom and discrimination." While the opinion wasn't what everyone wanted, "the notion that not only is religion to be protected, but that other viewpoints are to be respected, is both critical and noteworthy."
Emory Law Senior Lecturer Mark Goldfeder was quoted by the Christian Science Monitor on what the U.S. Supreme Court's 7-2 decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop meant. "This is a balancing test," Goldfeder said. Equality for the LGBTQ community and the free exercise of religion "are all valid rights and they all deserve to be listened to, and that's why it was so hurtful what the Colorado Commission did, which was almost to pretend there wasn't another side to this question."