[completed with the help of Jake Truscott who gathered data for this post] The 2022 Supreme Court term concluded this past June. Since then, the Justices have been on break. In the past several justices go on vacation (some of the downsides to such travel have been documented as well) while others teach in exciting…
Category: Cert
SCOTUS Petitions and Cases I’m Awaiting
The main mechanism by which parties send their cases to the Supreme Court for review is by cert petitions. With around 8,000 petitions each year from which the justices choose around 60-70 to hear on oral argument, the Court needs to find ways to quickly determine the most worthy cases. One of the ways the…
About this Term: OT 2019
Even though not all briefs are filed in cases that will be argued before the Supreme Court this term, the interest level in the Court’s cases is at an apex. There was a lot of hype leading into this term, as it is the first where all nine sitting justices have at least a term…
The “Right” Stuff
The Constitution as originally drafted excluded certain rights. These rights were were instead later added as amendments to the Constitution in the form of the Bill of Rights. Commentary leading up to the establishment of a Constitution found in the Federalist Papers discusses the importance of amendments and the process by which they might be…
Comparing Cert Stage OSG Efforts Under Obama and Trump
The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) is involved in more Supreme Court litigation on a yearly basis than any other entity. The OSG also plays a unique role in this litigation as its team provides the Court with information, which is oftentimes related to the incumbent administration’s policy views. This singular position has been…
Hitting the Nail on the Head: Successful Cert Stage Amicus Briefs in Cases with Financial Implications
Not surprisingly, most cases before the Supreme Court involve high stakes. The justices can assure this by taking a small and selective caseload each term. With so many potential cases petitioned to the Court on such a wide range of issues, the Court really has the pick of the litter in terms of possible cases…
Follow the Experts: Framing Petitions for Cert
What do Supreme Court experts do differently in their cert petitions? Some insights in this post
Building a Merits Docket in 2018
The Supreme Court hears its first oral argument of the 2018 term on the first Monday in October (Monday October 1st). Before then, on September 24th, the justices will sit down to what is known as the “long conference” where the justices will review petitions for the first time since June. The number of petitions…
To Extend or Not to Extend
Occasionally someone will posit a question about Supreme Court practice to me dealing with an issue I haven’t examined. Recently, I had one such interaction with John Elwood of Vinson & Elkins. John asked if I had looked at applications for extensions of time to file petitions for writs of certiorari. As I hadn’t looked…
BriefCatching 2017 Cert-Stage Filings
Good writing quality is one of the greatest assets for attorneys practicing before any court. While there is no universally accepted measure of good writing, software engineers are currently designing programs that measure writing quality in innovative and accurate ways. In past, Empirical SCOTUS has employed off-the-shelf metrics for writing quality to compare filings…
Successful Cert Amici 2014
With 7,006 cases disposed of during the 2014 Supreme Court term, Supreme Court Justices and clerks had an abundance of cases on their plates. One way that the Justices and clerks find their way to the more important cases (specifically to cases that are important to people beyond the individual parties in the case) is…
Cert Winners 2014: Attorneys and Firms
Thinking of submitting a case to the Supreme Court? Most likely not. If so, be prepared to have your case rejected. The Supreme Court is extremely selective about the cases it hears typically only taking cases with circuit splits, of great importance, and with issues that have sufficiently percolated through the lower courts. The majority…
Empirical SCOTUS 