The philosopher Archimedes once wrote “Give me a lever that is long enough and a fulcrum to place it on and I will move the world.” Is there a metaphor for the Court within this quote and if so do certain justices control a lever? In fact, we may find that the control or the…
Category: Predictive
Analysis of the Zubik Arguments
What was said over the course of the 90 minute the oral arguments today in Zubik? Quite a bit. Commentators seem to think the Justices may split their votes four to four (e.g. Adam Liptak from the New York Times) with the Justices predominately to the right: Kennedy, Alito, Thomas, and Roberts voting that the…
Forecasting Votes in Hellerstedt
On March 2nd, the Court heard oral arguments in perhaps the most publicized case of the Term – Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (No. 15-274). The case brings into question Texas’ new controversial law limiting who can perform abortions. Prior to oral arguments expectations were already high that the Justices would split along ideological lines…
Empirical SCOTUS 