U.Va Law: Supreme Court Docket Heavy on Environmental, Business Cases, Solicitor General Says

A look from mid-term revealed that the Supreme Court docket was full of key environmental and business cases, U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement observed at a Federalist Society talk in Caplin Pavilion April 11. But it is still too early to decide what the major themes of the court year will be, because arguments for the last session of the court begin April 16, he added. This term is the first in which all the justices of the Roberts Court are serving.

Clement is the nation’s 43rd solicitor general. The Office of the Solicitor General conducts all litigation on behalf of the United States in the Supreme Court and supervises the handling of litigation in the federal appellate courts.

“This will be a term that will be remembered as having some very important environmental cases,” Clement said. “I think that the business docket of the court will also be a significant contributor to the importance of the decisions this term.”kj The jury is still out on whether this is coincidence or whether Chief Justice John Roberts’s background in corporate law is influencing the docket.