Monday, May 11, 2009
John Roberts, "white-shoe corporate lawyer"
The U.S. Supreme Court has increasingly become a favorite of big business, writes Rob Larson, an assistant professor of economics at Ivy Tech Community College in Bloomington, Indiana. A conservative five-justice bloc, led by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, has helped the highest court in the land become “an institution of corporate power” since the appointments made by President George W. Bush.
Larson cites the Wall Street Journal in claiming the court has begun hearing far more business cases in recent years, and, in case after case, has “pushed the law in a direction favored by business.” For instance, the business community’s top lobby, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, took a position on 15 cases before the court in 2007 and its side won in all but two.
This should come as no surprise, argues Larson, pointing out that Roberts once represented and filed briefs on behalf of the chamber and other business organizations like the National Association of Manufacturers and other corporate clients. Larson also cites The Financial Times, which referred to Roberts and Alito as “pretty much the dream candidates of economic conservatism,” with Roberts being “a white-shoe corporate lawyer” and Alito’s judicial history of siding with employers before he even joined the Supreme Court.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
The Subprime Court (by Rob Larson, Z Magazine)
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