This Term, the Supreme Court has sided with the US Chamber of Commerce in 7 of 8 decisions so far. According to data from the Constitutional Accountability Center, which has been tracking the Chamber’s win record for years, the biggest Chamber decisions for this Term still remain.
Though many people may think that the Chamber of Commerce is a government organization, it is, in fact, a powerful business lobbying group, serving the interests of mega-corporations. The organization has had “astounding success before the Roberts Court,” winning 88 percent of its cases since the beginning of October Term 2011.
The Chamber is involved in a total of 16 cases this Term. A pair of environmental cases yet to be decided could make this Term extremely significant for the Clean Air Act, depending on the outcomes. The Roberts Court will determine how much authority the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has to address problems like climate change and interstate air pollution.
Also yet to be decided is a highly-important business-law case and a case in which the Court will address the president’s recess appointments power. According to the Constitutional Accountability Center, if the Court “heeds the Chamber’s call” on the latter, “it may well issue a decision that unsettles centuries of presidential practice and makes it easier, even in a post-nuclear option world, for the opposing party in the Senate to block a President’s preferred nominees to important posts and sow the seeds of even deeper dysfunction in Washington.”
Since Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito joined the Supreme Court, the Chamber has received a boost in favorable rulings. The Chamber went from receiving rulings in its favor 56 percent of the time during the Rehnquist Court (1994-2005) to 72 percent of the time (2006-2014) during the Roberts Court.
The end of the Term is just three months away and, given the Court’s track record, the Chamber and the big business it supports have a good chance of coming out on top.
Images via: Constitutional Accountability Center
Alisha is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. You can follow her on Twitter @childoftheearth.
