Supreme Court Roundup

Reactions to the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and debate over the president's replacement nomination, Judge John Roberts, Jr., of the D.C. Circuit, dominated this summer's Supreme Court recess. Subsequently, after Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's death on September 3, 2005, President Bush nominated Roberts for the chief justice slot. In the 2004-2005 term, O'Connor provided the deciding vote in many of the 13 capital cases the Court decided, and her opinions have been described as a kind of "bridge" over the wide gulf between the Court's left and right factions in this area. In this article, the author reviews some of the landmark cases handled by the Supreme Court under the jurisprudence of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The author also provides his views on some of the Supreme Court's decisions. (Contains 21 notes).