Somewhat obscured among the highly publicized marriage-equality appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court recently issued three opinions in six of the class action cases on the court’s docket. See Amgen Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, No. 11-1085 (February 27, 2013); Standard Fire Ins. Co. v. Knowles, No. 11-1450 (March 19, 2013); and Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, No. 11-864 (March 27, 2013).
The decisions reflect the court’s liberal and conservative divide, providing class action plaintiffs and defendants with something to cheer about, as well as expansive fertile dicta for future use. Despite the split decisions, the justices agreed that their opinions broke no new ground regarding black-letter class certification doctrines. Moreover, the decisions display an abiding disagreement about what constitutes a permissible "merits" inquiry at class certification and suggest an ever growing cacophony in the class action arena.
