As this report prepared by attorneys at Mayer Brown nicely presents, the Supreme Court still has 15 cases—more than 20% of its total for the term—awaiting ruling before the justices take their summer break, probably at the end of next week. Announcement sessions at 10:00 are set for tomorrow and next Monday. One or perhaps two additional announcement sessions will likely be set for later next week.
Prominent among the Court’s remaining cases are the Second Amendment case (District of Columbia v. Heller), a case (Kennedy v. Louisiana) presenting the question whether capital punishment for the crime of raping a child violates the Eighth Amendment, and a campaign-finance case (Davis v. FEC) concerning the constitutionality of the so-called “millionaires amendment”.
Of the 15 pending cases, one was argued in January, two in February, four in March, and eight in April.
On average, each justice should be assigned to write seven or eight majority opinions. So far this term, the Chief Justice and Justices Thomas and Ginsburg lead the pack with seven majority opinions each. Justices Souter and Breyer trail with four apiece. So expect a bunch of Souter and Breyer majority opinions—preferably in cases that don’t present much potential for messing up the law.