As the Washington political class waits for the U.S. Supreme Court to hand down decisions in such hotly contested cases as the challenge to the Affordable Care Act and the constitutionality of Arizona’s immigration law, there is evidence that the public at large is losing confidence in the Court as an impartial arbiter of justice. In a New York Times/CBS poll released last week, only 44 percent of Americans approved of the job the Court is doing — down from a highs in the mid-60s during the late 1980s. This rating is even lower than the results in a Pew…

The U.S. Supreme Court opened what is likely to be a closely watched and potentially explosive new term on Monday. The dominant theme of this, the sixth year of the Roberts Court, is the power of the Federal government and attempts to define its limits. Although there are some cases already on the docket that are sure to generate a great deal of interest, it’s the cases that the Court has yet to grant certiorari to, but may very well decide to consider, that are generating white-hot attention. Two cases that very likely will be taken up by the Court…

Violent video games, funeral protests, illegal immigration, and DNA testing are among the high-profile issues on the docket as the Supreme Court opens its 2010-2011 term today. Each case will have its turn in the limelight, but the real news is that, for first time ever, there will be three female justices seated on the High Court.