I thought SA’s readers would be interested in George Will’s latest column. Here’s a taste:

Last Tuesday Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court and joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, noted that the court has held that government “cannot condition public employment on a basis that infringes the employee’s constitutionally protected interest in freedom of expression.” But the Ceballos case was not about conditioning employment; it was about whether government employees are constitutionally exempt from discipline related to speech made in the conduct of their official duties. (The federal government and most states already have statutes protecting whistle-blowers.)

. . . .

Ceballos’s case was originally argued after Justice Sandra Day O’Connor announced her retirement but before she was replaced by Alito. It was then reargued, which suggests that without Alito the court was split 4 to 4. If so, the addition of Alito enabled the court to prevent the 9th Circuit’s approach from pulling the nation’s courts even more deeply than they already are into supervising American life.

What were the Roberts and Alito confirmation battles about? That.