The Supreme Court’s 2005-06 term began with a bang and ended with a blockbuster. After a decade-plus of stability, the Court had two new members to unsettle expectations. Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. was sitting on the bench that first Monday in October, while Justice Samuel Alito Jr.’s much-anticipated arrival was delayed until January. Two months later the Court heard the term’s biggest case, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. And it was those two topics, the Roberts Court and Hamdan, that preoccupied the panelists at Legal Times‘ fifth annual Supreme Court review.
Three of the panelists were veterans of multiple arguments before the justices over many years; the fourth had successfully argued Hamdan itself. The discussion, moderated by Legal Times‘ Supreme Court correspondent, Tony Mauro, took place July 12 at Georgetown University Law Center. The event was sponsored by West, a Thomson business. Participants were greeted by Ann Pelham, publisher of Legal Times, and Lisa Khoury, regional manager for law firm account management at West. What follows is a transcript of the event, edited for length and clarity.
