For the last quarter century, the American public's approval of the Supreme Court has been consistently high and generally more stable than approval ratings of the other branches of the Federal government. However, a Pew Research survey has detected a steady decline in the Court's favorability that cuts across political party lines.
The Court this week will hear the the final arguments of the 2011 Term. The last argument, on Wednesday, will be in Arizona v. United States, the widely watched challenge to Arizona's controversial immigration law.
The Court is expected to issue opinions on all pending cases by late June.
New cases are already being docketed for the 2012 Term, which will open in October.
In a significant Fourth Amendment decision, the Court today found that law enforcement authorities must obtain warrants before using GPS tracking devices to monitor a vehicle. The decision was unanimous.
The Supreme Court on Friday issued an unsigned, per curiam opinion in Perry v. Perez halting the implementation of a congressional district map drawn by a Federal district court, after the lower court rejected the Texas legislature's map.