When it comes to negotiation, it would be hard to retreat from asking for those opt-outs, but he should not make too much of a failure to win. (There is precious little new social legislation in the pipeline, and Britain already has the right to opt out of most new judicial measures.) A reprieve for the City from the proposed financial rules would be a coup.

ECONOMIST: Britain's European problem

Supporters of Proposition 8 say the court should respect the verdict of California voters who approved the ban in 2008 and let the fast-changing politics of gay marriage evolve on their own, through ballot measures and legislative action, not judicial decrees.

NPR: Calif. Gay Marriage Argument At High Court Tuesday

The union, which habitually spends lots of money on campaigns for judicial and legislative elections, as well as on ballot measures, will of course fight the proposal.

ECONOMIST: California's prisons

It gathers data on more than 60 indicators (the extent of crime, the quality of police, judicial independence and so on) to create rule-of-law and governance measures for virtually every country in the world.

ECONOMIST: Economics and the rule of law

Leader Reid had to go through extraordinary measures to get a judge confirmed with no Republican opposition, and a seat he will fill is a judicial emergency seat.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing