Oral arguments have always been central to Supreme Court adjudication. In early Supreme Court practice oral arguments were the primary means by which the justices learned about cases. Currently, oral arguments convey less original information to the justices, but still are helpful tools for the justices to learn about dimensions in each case not brought out…
Month: December 2017
Help a Justice Out
While Supreme Court justices are often guarded about how they come to their decisions, there are occasions where they are much more transparent. During oral argument, it is not uncommon for justices to bluntly say to an attorney “help me -” followed by a certain request. Instances where justices enlist attorneys’ help during oral argument present…
When I Bake My Masterpiece: Understanding the Justices’ Positions in Masterpiece Cakeshop Based on Oral Arguments
Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission appears to be the Supreme Court case garnering the most public attention this term. The question in the case is whether a baker’s First Amendment rights (free speech and/or free expression) are violated when a law compels him to bake a cake for a couple in violation of his sincerely held…
Decisions, Decisions
The other day Mark Sherman of AP reported an interesting statistic via Twitter (Kimberly Robinson mentioned this stat in Bloomberg Big Law Business post as well): this term would be the Court’s slowest in recent years for releasing the first two orally argued decisions. I decided to examine the details behind this statistic, which I provide…
The Next Nominee to the Supreme Court
For all of the criticism the Trump Administration has received in recent weeks and months, one thing that Republicans almost universally agree upon is that President Trump has done well in reshaping the federal judiciary. This distinction even led to the genesis of stress balls with the caption “But Gorsuch!” distributed at the most recent Federalist…
empiricalscotus.com 