The U.S. Postal Service plans to issue a panel of four stamps honoring former Supreme Court justices Joseph Story, Louis D. Brandeis, Felix Frankfurter and William J. Brennan Jr.
The Postal Service and the Supreme Court will commemorate the first day of issue on Sept. 22, with an event at the Supreme Court featuring Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Postmaster General John E. Potter.
In her first oral argument session since joining the Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor signaled today that she does not agree that corporations should be allowed a freer hand to spend money to influence elections.
The case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, started as a non-profit corporation's challenge to restrictions in the 2002 McCain-Feingold campaign law to "electioneering conmunications" paid for out of corporate or union general treasury funds within 30 days before a primary or 60 days before a general election. Before Sotomayor joined the court, it broadened the case to consider whether to overturn two major campaign finance precedents.
Sotomayor sat quietly through almost a third of the session, before asking former Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson whether the plaintiff's side was "giving up on your earlier arguments" that the court could rule for the plaintiff without overturning the precedents.
Sotomayor said that a "difficulty" she had was that "we don't have any record developed below" on the question of voiding the precedents.
After spending June and July on Sonia Sotomayor's successful nomination to the Supreme Court, the Senate Judiciary Committee will resume processing lower court nominations in earnest this week.
On Wednesday, the committee plans to hold a confirmation hearing for 3rd Circuit nominee Joseph A. Greenaway Jr., of New Jersey; and district court nominees Roberto A. Lange of South Dakota, Irene Cornelia Berger of West Virginia and Charlene Edwards Honeywell of Florida.
The next day, the committee is scheduled to vote on the nominations of Beverly Baldwin Martin of Georgia for the 11th Circuit, and Jeffrey L. Viken to be a South Dakota district judge. The committee held a confirmation hearing for Martin and Viken on July 29, the day after it voted to approve Sotomayor's nomination. Georgia Republicans Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson both testified in favor of Martin's nomination.
Nevertheless, committee Republicans are expected to postpone consideration of the Martin and Viken nominations for a week, as provided for under committee rules.
The Supreme Court will conduct a formal investiture ceremony for Justice Sonia Sotomayor this afternoon in its courtroom.
President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. are scheduled to attend. Sotomayor and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. will walk down the front steps of the Supreme Court building at about 2:15 p.m., and pose briefly for photographs, along with members of Sotomayor's family.
The newest justice has already been on the job for a month, since getting sworn in on Aug. 8 in a private ceremony at the court. She will be on the bench for Wednesday's oral argument in a high-stakes campaign finance case.
The Supreme Court announced Friday that it would rush the release of an audio recording of its unusual Sept. 9 session, in which the court will hear a second round of argument in a high-stakes campaign finance case.
As it has gotten in the habit of doing in major cases, the court will release the recording soon after the session concludes. The case is Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
The justices -- including the court's newest member, Sonia Sotomayor -- are trying to decide whether to overturn of two of its campaign finance precedents, which would loosen restrictions on corporate political spending.