The Volokh Conspiracy
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Is Chief Justice Roberts the Supreme Court's "Property Guy"?
The Chief has written many of the Court's property cases over the past decade.
Robert Thomas made a thorough observation on his Inverse Condemnation blog: Chief Justice Roberts is the Supreme Court's "property guy":
The biggest point we read between the lines of Chief Justice Roberts' opinion was this: the Chief is solidly the "property guy" on the Court. In addition to Cedar Point, how many of the Court's property or property-related opinions has he authored? Knick. Penn East. Horne II. Murr dissent. Winter. This recent per curiam sure reads a lot like he wrote it, too. [Pakdel v. City & County of San Francisco]. Those opinions he didn't author he played a big part in: the fifth vote in Koontz; presumably employing his role as Chief to organize unanimous or nearly unanimous decisions in Arkansas Game, Horne I, Brandt, Hawkes, and Sackett; and joining in very pro-property rights pluralities when there wasn't a majority. (Did we miss any?)
I can't think of any others. Roberts really, really has a strong preference for property rights. True enough, Roberts argued Tahoe-Sierra on behalf of the federal government. But lawyers don't always agree with their causes.
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