Supreme Court issuing fewer rulings

For the first time under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the Supreme Court failed to issue opinions before Thanksgiving in any of the cases that were argued in recent months.

The court operates under no deadlines, but usually produces an opinion or two by the middle of November, especially if Chief Justice Roberts or the equally speedy Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is writing for a unanimous court.

The justices heard arguments a month earlier than usual in an important campaign finance case that could affect spending by corporations and labor unions in next year’s election campaigns.

One reason for the early argument, many court watchers believed, was to enable an early resolution of the case. It hasn’t happened yet.

With new Justice Sonia Sotomayor in the mix, it also is possible that the justices are moving a bit more slowly while they allow their new colleague to get her bearings. On the other hand, Justice Sotomayor has proved to be an adept and eager questioner during arguments.

The court returns to work Monday and could issue opinions in the coming week.

Of course, it’s not as though Chief Justice Roberts isn’t writing at all. He recently added a new duty to his eclectic mix of responsibilities.

At the Treasury Department’s request, Chief Justice Roberts is writing a half-dozen short essays about the preamble to the Constitution in conjunction with a series of platinum coins being issued by the U.S. Mint.

The first installment of both the essay and the coin focus on the phrase “to form a more perfect union,” the first of six key needs given for writing the Constitution.

Jettisoning legalese in favor of words that can be grasped by a wide audience, Chief Justice Roberts explains that the founders’ desire for a “more perfect union” rests not on a common heritage, but “more fundamentally on a unity of common beliefs that Americans of all backgrounds throughout history have embraced.”

The coin features Lady Liberty on one side and four faces representing American diversity on the other.

Chief Justice Roberts already is chancellor of the Smithsonian Institution, the head of the federal judiciary and a trustee at the National Gallery of Art.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. likes to play to the crowd. Last year, when speaking to a conservative group, he needled Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on a 20-year-old instance of plagiarism in a campaign speech.

Addressing the Federalist Society recently, Justice Alito took a couple of shots at leading liberal scholars Laurence Tribe and Cass Sunstein, who are closely associated with President Obama.

Justice Alito said he has not yet read Mr. Sunstein’s “A Constitution of Many Minds: Why the Founding Document Doesn’t Mean What It Meant Before” and Mr. Tribe’s “The Invisible Constitution.”

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