The Gothic Times

Issue date: 11/25/09 Section: News

Media Credit: supremecourt.gov

Last month marked the opening of the Supreme Court's new term and with it, the seating of its newest Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor. The new term is expected to see a number of high-profile cases whose significance depends on how the court rules.

The cases involve issues of free speech, the separation of church and state and patent law.

One of the first cases before the court was United States v. Stevens, a case that stems from a 1999 statute which outlawed the creation, selling and possession of videos depicting animal cruelty.

Robert J. Stevens would be the first, and so far, the only person tried and convicted under the statute for possessing videos of pit bull terriers engaged in dog fighting.

Both sides presented arguments in October with the defendant claiming the videos are a protected form of speech under the First Amendment, whereas the attorneys for the United States suggested the videos fall outside such protection, much like child pornography.

Justices Scalia and Sotomayor asked pointed questions regarding the scope of the statute itself, suggesting perhaps the statute was too broad and could make legitimate usage, such as documentary or journalistic footage, illegal.

Attorneys for the United States contend the statute was designed to be narrowly defined to protect legitimate uses of such footage.

Salazar v. Buono, focuses on the separation between church and state, as detailed in the Establishment clause.

The clause, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion," located in the First Amendment (alongside clauses for the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press) prohibits Congress from establishing a national religion as well as giving preference to any one religion.

At the center of this case is a large cross at a remote location in the Mojave National Preserve.

Erected over seventy years ago by the Veterans of Foreign Wars to honor their fallen comrades in World War I, the cross came under fire ten years ago when a retired employee of the park, Frank Buono, claimed the cross was a violation of the Establishment clause of the First Amendment.

After ten years of legal maneuvering by Congress, which includes selling the acre of land under the cross to a private organization, the case is now before the court.

The case of Bilski v. Doll, a patent dispute, brings the question of the patentability of business methods as set forth in federal patent law.

Continued...

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