Supreme Court Considers First Amendment, Sherman Act

This is the first session since Barack Obama became president and since Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was released from the hospital following surgery for pancreatic cancer.

In the First Amendment case, the Summum religious group wanted to place a monument in a park in Pleasant Grove City, Utah. The group argued that because the park already had a monument to the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments, the park should allow its Seven Aphorisms of Summum monument. To deny them would violate their freedom of speech, they argued.

The court ruled unanimously that the park did not have to allow the new monument, in short because the Pleasant Grove government had the right to choose what went in its park.

In the AT&T case, the court also decided unanimously that the telecommunications giant did not violate the Sherman Antitrust Act when it charged other Internet providers a high fee to buy space on its phone lines to deliver an Internet connection.

Several competitors in California argued that AT&T had a monopoly and was unfairly forcing them out of the Internet-provider business by charging too much.

The court ruled that while the Sherman Act forbids a company from monopolizing trade or commerce, it doesn't force the business to sell its services to other firms.

Highest court in the land

	The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., was built in 1935 and includes a cafeteria, gym and a basketball court, dubbed the "highest court in the land."

The U.S. Supreme Court, often called the highest court in the land, consists of a chief justice and eight associate justices who are appointed to serve on the court until they die or decide to retire. The U.S. Senate must vote to confirm each nominated justice.

The Supreme Court is at the top of the federal judicial system and decides to hear only a small number of cases from the thousands of requests it receives each year.

When someone involved in a federal court case (usually the party that lost the decision) decides to appeal, the case first goes to a federal court of appeals for review. If the case involves a controversial or grey area in the law, the Supreme Court can decide to make a final ruling.

Federal courts deal with violations of federal law, cases involving disputes between or among states and cases that involve constitutional questions – such as whether the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to own a gun or have an abortion.

Obama may choose new justice

	President Obama, shown with five justices and Vice President Biden, is likely to appoint at least one new justice during his first term.

Last year, the court's high-profile decisions included rulings that the U.S. Constitution guarantees an individual right to have guns and that terrorist suspects held by the government in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have a right to challenge their detention.

The president has enormous power to pick who will serve on the court. President George W. Bush picked Associate Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts, which made it more conservative.

President Obama will most likely fill at least one spot, most likely from the departure of one or more of the court's more liberal justices -- Justices John Paul Stevens, Ginsburg or David Souter, according to legal analysts.

Because Justice Ginsburg is the only female on the court, the Wall Street Journal reported that President Obama is most likely narrowing his list down to women, which would include: Kathleen Sullivan, a professor and former dean of Stanford Law School; Georgia Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears; U.S. Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor; and Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan, Mr. Obama's nominee for solicitor general, the official who represents the government before the Supreme Court.