Balkinization

Monday the last day of the Court s Term is shaping up to be First Amendment Day at the Supreme Court. Two of the four remaining cases to be decided raise important questions concerning the meaning of the First Amendment. The Court is expected to release its long awaited opinions in Brown v. EMA, concerning the constitutionality of state regulation of violent video games, and McComish v. Bennett, the sequel to last Term s blockbuster campaign finance ruling in Citizens United v. FEC. With these landmark rulings still to come, it would be easy to lose sight of today s ruling in Sorrell v. IMS Health, a commercial speech case that has gotten almost no attention this Term. But Sorrell should not be missed. The 6-3 ruling written by Justice Kennedy also the author of Citizens United lays the framework for a major expansion in the protection the First Amendment affords to commercial speech by corporations and other businesses.

via balkin.blogspot.com