Opinion Watch

In the wake of the Ledbetter decision, I can't really stand more bad Supreme Court news. But it always does seem to find me.

With yesterday's ruling, Supreme Court observer Aaron Streett relays the following information about the remaining decisions to be handed down this term: "With [Alito's] majority opinion in Ledbetter, only the racial-integration cases remain from December, with only the Chief left to write. Unless he lost his majority, this will likely be the most important opinion of [Roberts'] young career."

The cases, which I described as threatening the very heart of Brown v. Board itself, are likely to be razor-thin, and I have very little faith that Roberts will be on the right side of them. If Roberts' decides to use these opinions to craft some sort of conservative legacy for himself, we may be on the verge of witnessing the greatest legal setback for civil rights in the past 50 years.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I'm not optimistic.