In An election year, almost anything the Supreme Court does is interpreted as a victory or defeat for one political camp or the other. On June 19th, the court delivered a pair of decisions which caused rejoicing and gnashing of teeth to both liberals and conservatives in equal measure. A unanimous court slapped down uppity Massachusetts, a stronghold of liberal Democrats, when it found that the state government's boycott of companies which did business with Myanmar was unconstitutional. Human-rights advocates were dismayed. But the court also voted six-to-three to declare unconstitutional a provision allowing student-led prayer before football games at a high school in Texas, the home state of George W. Bush, the Republican's presidential nominee. Religious conservatives were outraged. Mr Bush, who signed Texas's brief supporting the school district's case, said he was "disappointed".
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