Even with the Supreme Court in summer recess the Justices have ruled on a slew of challenges to states’ laws affecting voting rights (for example) and regulations (for example). These decisions often have ideological dimensions as is apparent from the alignment of dissenting coalitions. With eight rather than the typical nine Justices currently sitting on the…
Category: justices
Changing Work Patterns in the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court decides well fewer than 100 orally argued cases each Term. This is only a fraction of the number of cases the Supreme Court heard in the past. There is concern that Court will hear even fewer cases during the 2016 Term due to the ongoing Supreme Court vacancy. The dynamics of these cases…
A New Frontier in SCOTUS Stay Decisions Without Justice Scalia?
While most of the Supreme Court’s notable matters include cases with far reaching implications that are decided with written decisions, some of the most important decisions the Court makes have to do with emergency matters that are time-sensitive. The Court examines a number of stay applications each year, which are typically dominated by capital cases….
Professors as Amici
Amicus briefs filed before the Supreme Court are most commonly used as a tool for interest groups use to convey their positions (for a look at interest groups’ use of amicus briefs see this article by Professor Paul Collins). This is not the sole use of such briefs though. Non-party individuals and groups that have an…
Forced Judicial Restraint
When, soon after his nomination to the Supreme Court, Judge Garland was praised for his judicial restraint, this praise was not envisioned for the type of impact Judge Garland’s nomination has made on the Court so far. Similarly, no one calling for judicial restraint or decrying the Court’s judicial activism prior to 2016 expected change to come in…
The Three Shifts of Chief Justice John Roberts
Chief Justice John Roberts’ resume is not remarkably unique for a Supreme Court Justice. That is not to say that it is not impressive. There is scant evidence of an imperfection from his Harvard undergrad and law school education, appellate and Supreme Court clerkships, work in the Solicitor General’s Office, big firm law practice, and…
Still A Conservative Court
It’s a new day for the Supreme Court. We are in uncharted territory with this current Supreme Court vacancy with no end in sight. In some respect this has led to a liberal shift in the Court’s general demeanor – especially since this is the first time in decades that conservative Justices have not held a majority…
Justice Ginsburg: Political and Efficient All Wrapped Up in One
Once on the Supreme Court the Justices have a few essential obligations. Add to this life-tenure and lots of free time while the Court is in recess and the job sounds pretty enviable. The Justices still must hear oral arguments, meet and vote to decide cases, and grant new cases for the Court to hear…
Inferences From Amicus Briefs and How Justice Kennedy Continues to Rule Supreme
This post analyzes the amicus filings from this past Term in three ways. First it looks at counts of cert stage amicus filings and compares them to merits stage filings. This difference show whether the interest in a case prior to the Court granting cert paralleled the interest in the case’s outcome on the merits. …
Quick Note: Roberts Court Majority Opinion Assignment
Who decides which Justice authors a given majority opinion? There is, of course, the necessity that this Justice is part of the majority coalition. Beyond that though there are two main rules. The first is that the Chief Justice assigns the opinion if the Chief is a member of the majority. If the Chief is…
SCOTUS Briefs: Opinions’ Basic Building Blocks
A Supreme Court opinion is a mixture of law, fact, and interpretation. By the time cases reach the Supreme Court, they amass a detailed record from the lower court(s) (except for the very few instances of original actions) and a large number of appellate filings. The case with the most amicus briefs on the merits…
Quick Note: 5-4 Decisions and Equally Divided Votes Since 1946
This Term was nothing if not unique. The Justices had to sort through a majority of the decisions with one Justice missing. With a Court of eight, the Justices could not possibly come to 5-4 decisions. The Supreme Court was officially set at the size of nine members in 1869 and Congress has not changed…
Empirical SCOTUS 