On Monday, October 5, the U.S. Supreme Court will open its annual October Term, with its first oral argument scheduled for 10 am. The "First Monday in October" has marked the start of the Supreme Court’s new year of work since 1916. The first case of the new Term, Suncor Energy (USA) Inc. v. Commissioners of Boulder County , involves liability for injuries caused by climate change. A livestream of oral argument audio will be provided on the Court's website. (One voice you won't hear on the audio during Suncor is Justice Samuel Alito; the clerk of the Court announced the justice’s decision to recuse in a one-sentence announcement on Monday.) Other petitions already granted for this Term address a number of hot-button topics, such as a state citizenship requirements for voter registration in Arizona ; sex discrimination suits against federally funded educational institutions ; Second Amendment cases concerning ownership of semiautomatic rifles ; and state laws on...
Thursday, September 17 is Constitution Day , commemorating the 1787 signing of the United States Constitution in Philadelphia. This year's observance of Constitution Day is especially meaningful since it falls within the America 250 semiquincentennial celebration of the nation's founding. The National Archives and Records Administration, which houses the original document, maintains a page for America's Founding Documents: The Constitution of the United States with a transcription and historical background about the document and its signing. The full text of the U.S. Constitution, along with extensive commentary, can also be found in the government publication Constitution of the United States: Analysis and Interpretation (CONAN) , which is linked from Congress.gov, and in the front matter ("Organic Laws") of the U.S. Code in both official and unofficial formats. Constitution Day shares the September 17 holiday with Citizenship Day , an occasion often marked b...