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Thursday, June 21, 2012

It's nerve-wracking waiting for the Supreme Court this morning.

We don't know if the health-care case will come out in a few minutes, but it might. Here are descriptions of the cases that might be announced today.

And here's where to read about the announcements as close as you can get to real time, with SCOTUSblog.

UPDATE 1: Alito has the opinion in Knox v. SEIU, which is about requiring state workers to pay for the union's political speech. The union lost in a 6-3 decision. There is a free-speech right to opt out. [Here's the PDF.]

UPDATE 2: There's a decision in the case about the new lower sentences for crack cocaine — applying it to sentences imposed after the Act was passed or crimes committed before the Act. This is a Breyer opinion, with 4 dissenting votes.

UPDATE 3: FCC v. Fox opinion written by Justice Kennedy. This is the case about the FCC's rules on "fleeting expletives," which were challenged as vague. "The decision is very narrow. The analysis section of the opinion is only 5 pages long. It says simply that the FCC didn't give advance notice. It doesn't decide the big questions of the constitutionality of the current policy." So it's not a decision on the free speech issue.

UPDATE 4: The excitement is over. The cases we are so nervous about will wait until next week. Relax!

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