Cases’ contours are primarily defined by the time they reach the Supreme Court. These contours take shape through litigation in lower courts. In the lower courts, judges make decisions that are by and large upheld as they are generally are left untouched. Even if appeals courts wanted to take a larger role in the universe…
Month: November 2017
Who’s on the Case: Successful Cert Petitions 2017
The Supreme Court has its calendar set through January 2018 with ten cases already accepted for argument that are as of yet unscheduled. The total number of case grants so far is 53, and with consolidated cases this will lead to 47 arguments. This puts the Court on pace for one of the slowest grant rates…
Is a Recipe for Justice Kennedy a Recipe for Success?
The puns are endless with a case that goes by the name Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The stakes though are no laughing manner. If the Court decides all of the issues brought up in the case, boundaries of the First Amendment doctrine may be rewritten as could the defining lines between religious…
Name Dropping in Oral Argument
Supreme Court oral argument is the setting where attorneys get to present their cases to the justices. It is a chance for justices to ask questions and for attorneys to convey important information; especially information that might not be contained in the briefs. Oral argument also functions as a setting for dialogue. In this respect,…
Empirical SCOTUS 