The U.S. Supreme Court opened a new term this week the same way it ended last term – with 8 Justices instead of 9. The Senate shows no signs of acting on President Obama’s nominee to fill that empty seat, Merrick Garland, before Obama leaves office, leaving the choice to the winner of November’s election.
So what does that mean for the nation’s highest court during the coming term? We sat down this week with Widener University Delaware Law School dean and noted First Amendment attorney, Rod Smolla to get some perspective and the court’s intersection with the presidential election.
One case we learned this week will be on the Supreme Court docket is one involving Delaware’s escheat or abandoned property law and the state’s ability collect money associated with abandoned property. That money is a big revenue stream for the First State and political reporter James Dawson covered that story this week.
