American Express and Comcast were among the winners in 2012/13. 'This is a court that is making life easier for business,' Stephen Wermiel, constitutional law expert at the American University in Washington DC, told NBC News. The trend is attributed simply to the fact that the right have a majority of places on the court, a pattern that took seed when Chief Justice John Roberts was appointed in 2005 by President George W Bush. Still only 66, he is seen as being likely to lead the court for several years to come.
Employment cases
In two employment cases the judges voted 5-4 to make it harder for employees to sue their employers over alleged bias or harassment. In another 5-4 decision, the Court supported pharmaceutical companies, finding that they could not be held liable for defects in their generic drugs if the federal government had approved the name-brand version. 'A lot of this is about the chief,' says Pamela Harris, senior advisor at the Supreme Court Institute of Georgetown University Law Centre. 'He has real concerns about the over-litigation of business.'
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