Big Day For the Supremes: I'm guessing that the rulings will fall mixed. Sodomy laws will go down (pardon me!) by 5-4 -- perhaps 6-3 if Clarence has any powers of self-analysis. I predicted 7-2 when the case was heard, but the Michigan case has turned me pessimistic.

The free speech (Nike) case will go against Nike, also 5-4, which will be the most stunning blow to the 1st Amendment in many, many years.

As for the death penalty case, I'm sympathetic, and I think the court will be too. There are a lot of kinks to be worked out of the legal system before I can support capital punishment (if I ever do) again. One of those is court-appointed lawyers who don't offer a vigorous defense. How pervasive is the problem? Who cares? Everyone deserves a competent defense, no less so in a capital case.

The other two cases I know little about. The statute of limitations case is tricky. I don't think there should be a limit for child abuse or molestation; but if there is one, and it is repealed to re-open a case, I start to smell ex post facto trouble. And with the redistricting case, god only knows these days. You'll know things are really bad when the 9th district in Ohio starts picking up voters in Indiana. Until then, it's the Supreme Court's Rorshach blot test, nothing more.

Okay, my bets are in.