Roberts' First Opinion

John Roberts first signed opinion as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court was issued today, a unanimous opinion in Martin v. Franklin Capital Corp. Here it is.

[Note: Post edited as indicated to correct an error. As a commenter noted below, John Roberts is Chief Justice of the United States, not of the United States Supreme Court.]

UPDATE: Tony Mauro's article on the Roberts opinion closes with this interesting nugget:

For anyone who attended the oral argument in the case, Wednesday's decision also shows that Roberts is unafraid of standing up to Justice Antonin Scalia. One of the relevant precedents in the case was a 1968 case called Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises. When one of the lawyers at argument referred to the case by the shorthand Piggie Park, Scalia interrupted and said, only half-jokingly, "You know, it really would improve the dignity of this Court if we referred to Piggie Park as Newman."

Without apology, Roberts referred to the case throughout his opinion Wednesday as Piggie Park.