Just how significant is the Stoneridge v. Scientific-Atlanta case that will be argued before the Supreme Court today?  

Bloomberg is among the outlets calling it the Roe v. Wade of securities law. A Georgetown University law professor described it as an "11 on a scale of 1 to 10" in the Washington Post.  The Financial Times says it's "a case that could subject businesses around the world to billions of dollars in new liability."

At issue is whether investors (Stoneridge) can seek damages against two technology companies (Scientific-Atlanta and Motorola) for helping a customer (Charter Communications) inflate its revenue through a series of fraudulent deals.

A lower court ruled that because neither Scientific-Atlanta nor Motorola made public statements about the deals on which investors based their decisions regarding Charter stock, the tech companies could not be held liable for the fraud when it was discovered.

An appeals court later ruled in an unrelated case that shareholders could sue third parties. The Supreme Court agreed in April to hear the case.

How the court decides in Stoneridge will have important implications in a number of cases—in particular, the huge lawsuit by Enron investors against Enron's Wall Street banks.

Just about everyone associated with securities law has weighed in on the matter, and the Wall Street Journal reports that the level of public relations and lobbying power behind this case is unprecedented. Here's how the paper tallies the notables from both sides: "Siding with the trial bar: two House committee chairmen, 18 pension funds, 32 state attorneys general, and the S.E.C. itself. Backing big business: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; the Nasdaq and NYSE Euronext exchanges; seven high-profile New York lawyers; and the Justice Department's solicitor general, who represents the views of the White House."

Let the opening arguments begin.