SUPREME COURT
MOST PRO-BUSINESS SINCE 1946
“Under Chief Justice John
Roberts, the [Supreme] Court has not gone as far in limiting
government power over the marketplace as many conservatives would have liked. But
the Roberts Court has been the most pro-business of any since the Second
World War, according to a paper by the law professors Lee Epstein and William
Landes and Judge Richard Posner that looked at decisions from 1946 to 2011. Its
five sitting conservatives, including [Antonin] Scalia, ranked among the ten most business-
friendly Justices of that period. The Roberts Court hasn't just made a lot of
pro-business rulings. It has taken a higher percentage of cases brought by businesses
than previous courts, and it has handed down far-reaching decisions that have remade
corporate regulation and law. In Citizens United, it famously ruled that corporations had
free-speech rights and that many restrictions on corporate spending in elections were
therefore unconstitutional. It has overturned long-standing antitrust restrictions. It has
limited liability for corporate fraud and made it harder for workers to successfully sue
for age and gender discrimination. It has made suing businesses and governments more difficult,
especially in class-action suits.”
government power over the marketplace as many conservatives would have liked. But
the Roberts Court has been the most pro-business of any since the Second
World War, according to a paper by the law professors Lee Epstein and William
Landes and Judge Richard Posner that looked at decisions from 1946 to 2011. Its
five sitting conservatives, including [Antonin] Scalia, ranked among the ten most business-
friendly Justices of that period. The Roberts Court hasn't just made a lot of
pro-business rulings. It has taken a higher percentage of cases brought by businesses
than previous courts, and it has handed down far-reaching decisions that have remade
corporate regulation and law. In Citizens United, it famously ruled that corporations had
free-speech rights and that many restrictions on corporate spending in elections were
therefore unconstitutional. It has overturned long-standing antitrust restrictions. It has
limited liability for corporate fraud and made it harder for workers to successfully sue
for age and gender discrimination. It has made suing businesses and governments more difficult,
especially in class-action suits.”
James Surowiecki, “Courting Business,’ New Yorker,
March 17, 2016, page 21.
