As The media tries the Supreme Court for partisan bias, the main exhibit, inevitably, will be its verdict on Barack Obama's health-care reforms. But the justices could reasonably point to their other decisions in the past week as proof of a more independent and unpredictable frame of mind than their critics admit. They handed the left a victory on immigration and the right a win on campaign finance. They have taken pity on juvenile criminals and those convicted of offences involving crack Qiberal-sounding causes ever there were), while making it harder for labour unions to mount political campaigns and easier for corporations to challenge stiff fines (enough to warm conservative cockles). And they voted unanimously to knock back the Federal Communications Commission for its vague rules on indecency in broadcasting-something that could bring comfort to both ends of the political spectrum.
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