Via the NYT: Roberts Court May Be Defined in Second Term

Chances are high that the new term, which begins on Monday, will be different. The cases that the court has agreed to decide — 38 so far — offer few off-ramps, requiring instead that the justices proceed to rulings that will define the new court in both substance and style.

Of the issues the will be before the Court this term include: partial birth abortion, the issue of race and school admission and the tobacco company liability.

Nope, no possible fireworks there.

Indeed, the piece notes that the question of punitive damages in general could receive a serious review by the Court:

Of all the areas of Supreme Court doctrine most likely to be affected by the court’s change in membership, punitive damages ranks high on the list. It is also something of a wild card, because the question of whether the constitutional guarantee of due process places any substantive limits on the award of punitive damages by state courts has divided the court in a way that follows no ideological pattern, and the inclinations of the new justices are unknown.

It should all be quite interesting.