In telling the appeals court to be "mindful of the burdens imposed on the executive branch in any future proceedings," Justice Anthony M. Kennedy's majority opinion, implicitly but not definitively, rejected the Bush administration's position that the vice president's activities should not be subject to pretrial discovery at all.
The latest regulation, a result of several years of study, will be imposed on all future offshore drilling equipment and will be used by the administration to make the case that it can prevent a BP-like disaster as oil exploration expands in the Atlantic.
More fundamentally, it is a reflection of a divided society, in which many young people are deeply unhappy about the decision that an older cohort of voters has just imposed on their future.
The previously agreed bailout deal unraveled in spectacular fashion after it was greeted with revulsion not only by Cypriot lawmakers but by depositors in financially shaky countries like Italy and Spain, fearing similar measures might be imposed on them in the future.
But the borrowing and debt imposed on future generations will not be very different, at least if the numbers in the Obama administration's own budget document can be trusted.
Indeed, the pact on stability and growth will impose conditions on the future budgetary policies of national governments and give rise to serious problems for some Member States.
The accounting rule that has run into a buzz saw of criticism in the state capital, Austin, is intended to encourage politicians to deal ahead of time with the huge obligations they have imposed on future taxpayers.
One focus of the investigations is MF Global's compliance with the record-keeping obligations imposed on its futures and securities operations.
In April, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, raising some hope that limits might be imposed on future claims.
From April 2015, capital gains tax will be imposed on future gains made by non-residents who sell residential property in the UK.
