The Justices
Each of the nine Supreme Court justices will approach the Affordable Care Act cases from a different background. The longest serving justices have a well-established history of votes and opinions, while the Court's newest members will be addressing the issues raised by these cases for the first time.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.
Appointed by
Pres. George W. Bush
Ideological Ranking
Recent votes and opinions
Since joining the Court in 2005, Chief Justice Roberts has not participated in any significant cases that might suggest his leanings in the ACA challenges.
Notes
Chief Justice Roberts has demonstrated sensitivity to the Court's place in history and its role in leading it.
Although he did not participate in United States v. Lopez (1994), the most significant Commerce Clause case since the New Deal era, Chief Justice Roberts showed support for the majority opinion in his confirmation hearing testimony: "It's not a question of an abstract fact, does this affect interstate commerce or not, but has this body, the Congress, demonstrated the impact on interstate commerce that drove them to legislate? That's a very important factor. It wasn't present in Lopez at all."
See also
The Oyez Project's biography of Chief Justice Roberts
Justice Antonin Scalia
Appointed by
Pres. Ronald Reagan
Ideological Ranking
Recent votes and opinions
Justice Scalia voted with the majority in United States v. Lopez (1994), striking down congressional exercise of the commerce power for the first time since the New Deal era. He reaffirmed this view in United States v. Morrison (1999), voting to strike down the Violence Against Women Act of 1994.
However, Justice Scalia also voted with the majority in Gonzales v. Raich (2004), upholding Congress' power under the Commerce Clause to regulate intrastate production and consumption of marijuana. In his concurring opinion in Raich, Scalia declared, "where economic activity substantially affects interstate commerce, legislation regulating that activity will be sustained."
Notes
Justice Scalia's judicial philosophy places considerable emphasis on the framers' original intent, and most Court observers consider Scalia a leader of the Court's conservative bloc.
See also
The Oyez Project's biography of Justice Scalia
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy
Appointed by
Pres. Ronald Reagan
Ideological Ranking
Recent votes and opinions
Justice Anthony Kennedy sided with the majority in United States v. Lopez (1994), the Court's landmark decision striking down Congressional exercise of commerce power for the first time since the New Deal era. In a concurring opinion, Kennedy viewed the case as a question of federalism, declaring "Absent a stronger connection or identification with commercial concerns that are central to the Commerce Clause, that interference contradicts the federal balance the Framers designed and that that this Court is obliged to enforce."
Justice Kennedy also sided with the majority in a similar commerce case, United States v. Morrison (1999).
However, Justice Kennedy (with Justice Antonin Scalia) joined his four more liberal colleagues in Gonzales v. Raich (2004), upholding Congressional authority under the Commerce Clause to regulate intrastate drug activity.
Notes
Since the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Justice Kennedy has played the role of "swing voter" in the Court's most divisive cases, although, according to the Martin-Quinn Scores, he leans conservative by historical standards.
See also
The Oyez Project's biography of Justice Kennedy
Justice Clarence Thomas
Appointed by
Pres. George H.W. Bush
Ideological Ranking
Recent votes and opinions
Justice Clarence Thomas joined the majority in United States v. Lopez (1994), striking down an exercise of Congress' power under the Commerce Clause for the first time since the New Deal. He also joined the majority in a similar case, United States v. Morrison (1999). But, in Morrison, Thomas critiqued the Court's methodology for evaluating Commerce Clause cases as "rootless and malleable."
Justice Thomas dissented in Gonzales v. Raich (2004), where the majority upheld Congress' power to regulate intrastate marijuana production and consumption. Thomas argued, "By holding that Congress may regulate activity that is neither interstate nor commerce under the Interstate Commerce Clause, the Court abandons any attempt to enforce the Constitution's limits on federal power."
Notes
Justice Thomas is widely viewed as the most conservative justice on the current Court. According to the Martin-Quinn Scores of justice's ideologies, Justice Thomas ranks among the most conservative justices of the last 75 years.
See also
The Oyez Project's biography of Justice Thomas
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Appointed by
Pres. William J. Clinton
Ideological Ranking
Recent votes and opinions
Justice Ginsburg joined Justice Stephen Breyer's dissent in United States v. Lopez (1995) and joined both Justice Breyer and Justice David Souter's dissents in United States v. Morrison (1999). She voted with the majority in Gonzales v. Raich (2004). All three of these votes supported a broader interpretation of Congress' power under the Commerce Clause.
Notes
Justice Ginsburg has described her preferred approach to legal analysis as "measured." She has argued that a less cautious approach to the law would prove "unstable."
See also
The Oyez Project's biography of Justice Ginsburg
Justice Stephen G. Breyer
Appointed by
Pres. William J. Clinton
Ideological Ranking
Recent votes and opinions
Justice Breyer authored dissents in United States v. Lopez (1995) and United States v. Morrison (1999). He voted with the majority in Gonzales v. Raich (2004). In all three cases, he supported a broader interpretation of Congress' commerce power.
Notes
Justice Breyer has been characterized as a judicial pragmatist. He has described himself as particularly focused on "purpose and consequences."
See also
The Oyez Project's biography of Justice Breyer
Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr.
Appointed by
Pres. George W. Bush
Ideological Ranking
Recent votes and opinions
Since joining the Court in 2006, Justice Alito has not participated in any significant cases that might suggest his leanings in the ACA challenges.
Notes
Although Justice Alito has not yet encountered any significant cases relevant to the ACA challenges in his brief tenure as justice, he did reject a broad interpretation of the Commerce Clause while a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Most notably, Alito authored a dissenting opinion in United States v. Rybar (1996), a case in which the majority upheld Congress' authority under the Commerce Clause to ban possession of machine guns. In his dissent, Alito applied the Supreme Court's reasoning in United States v. Lopez and rejected "the proposition that the purely intrastate possession of machine guns...has a substantial effect on interstate commerce."
See also
The Oyez Project's biography of Justice Alito
Justice Sonia Sotomayor
Appointed by
Pres. Barack Obama
Ideological Ranking
Recent votes and opinions
Since joining the Court in 2009, Justice Sotomayor has not participated in any significant cases that might suggest her leanings in the ACA challenges.
Notes
Justice Sotomayor is a tabula rasa on the issues raised in the ACA challenges. She has not encountered similar questions in significant cases in either her tenure as Supreme Court justice or her time as judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
See also
The Oyez Project's biography of Justice Sotomayor
Justice Elena Kagan
Appointed by
Pres. Barack Obama
Ideological Ranking
Recent votes and opinions
Since joining the Court in 2010, Justice Kagan has not participated in any significant cases that might suggest her leanings in the ACA challenges.
Notes
The Court's newest appointee has not encountered questions similar to those raised in the ACA challenges during her brief tenure, nor does she have a lower court record that would offer any background on her inclinations. It's worth noting, however, that Justice Kagan served as President Obama's Solicitor General prior to her appointment, and the fate of his signature legislative accomplishment is at stake in these challenges.
See also
The Oyez Project's biography of Justice Kagan
