REGULARS

The Supreme Court's recently completed term undoubtedly will be remembered most for its decision on Dec. 12, 2000, in Bush v. Gore. For the first time in American history, the Supreme Court decided the outcome of a presidential election. Beyond Bush v. Gore, it was a term that lacked major blockbuster constitutional law decisions, but did significantly change the law in some key rulings concerning federal civil rights statutes. Several themes can be identified for October Term 2000, which began Oct. 2, and ended June 28, 2001.

Ken-Connor court

This is the Ken-Connor Court, with Justices Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O'Connor controlling the outcome of most cases. The current Supreme Court can be best understood as having three factions: a conservative block of Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas; a moderate block of Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer; and the "swing" Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy.  There are no liberal justices in the mold of a William Douglas or William Brennan or Thurgood Marshall.  More often than not, Justices O'Connor and Kennedy vote with the three conservatives and thus 5-4 decisions most commonly have a majority of Rehnquist, O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy and Thomas. This, of course, was the line-up in Bush v. Gore. 

Also, it is the split in all of the court's federalism decisions in the last few years, which limit federal power and expand state sovereign immunity. This term, for example, in University of Alabama at Birmingham Board of Trustees v. Garrett, 121 S.Ct. 955 (2001), the court held, 5-4, that state governments may not be sued for employment discrimination in violation of section one of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

See THE U.S. SUPREME

A new report by a State Bar task force recommends that California attorneys be allowed to partner with other professionals, using a model that would relax old rules prohibiting fee-sharing and alliances between lawyers and the rest of the business world.

See MDP

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Shortly after David Baldacci's best-selling first book hit the newsstands in 1995, the attorney- turned-author of the great American novel quit his day job. And despite - or maybe because of - the many manuscripts lawyers thrust on him at speaking engagements, Baldacci says he doesn't recommend his former colleagues follow suit. "People say there are so many lawyers out there using their experience to write bestsellers," Baldacci said recently from his home in Virginia. "Let's actually look at the numbers here. You can count maybe six ... after that it's hard to name some more."

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