Whatever writing and rewriting of the decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission may be underway at the Supreme Court, it's apparently not yet over. Another day has come and gone without a decision emerging in the closely-watched campaign finance case. And under the Court's traditional practices, the nextg chance for it to emerge is a week from today. The Court does not sit next Monday because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, and when it returns to hear arguments on Tuesday, that is likely to be an orders-only day with no decisions (as argument-Mondays usually are) so no rulings are likely until Wednesday.
The Court issued only one opinion, a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission case called NRG Power Marketing v. Maine Public Utilities Commission. One interesting note about the decision is that Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who has announced he will run for Sen. Chris Dodd's soon-to-be-vacant seat, argued and lost the case.
Before the Court plunged into the big antitrust case of the day, American Needle v. NFL, there was one poignant moment worth noting. As usual, the Court entertained motions for admission to the bar, in which a current member of the bar is invited to the lectern to move the admission of a new member. The chief justice usually recognizes the movant with a perfunctory "Mr. Smith" or "Ms. Jones," and the lawyer makes the motion. This morning, though, one of the movants was the venerable E. Barrett Prettyman Jr., of counsel at Hogan & Hartson, and a onetime colleague and mentor of Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. when Roberts was at the firm. Instead of just recognizing him as "Mr. Prettyman," Roberts allowed himself a small deviation from the script: "Mr. Prettyman, welcome." It was a small but rare personal touch.
Then the argument began, with justices switching between football and baseball references, but not offering clear clues about how they'd decide in the NFL case, which could have broad impact on the antitrust status of league sports and other "joint ventures." More on the argument later at nlj.com
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