This Supreme Court term was nerve racking for some conservatives (mainly unwarranted), most liberals (with good reason), and probably for some of the justices too, and yet all for different rationales. Below I’ll go through what may have caused this tension and why members of these three groups might have felt it. Before the Court’s…
Don’t Cite Me Like That
An interesting debate was reignited by the Chief Justice’s majority opinion in Minnesota Voter’s Alliance v. Mansky. This debate surrounds the effect of oral arguments, if any, on the justices’ decisions. Here is one of the sections from Roberts’ majority opinion in that case that refers to oral arguments. In this example, as is the case…
One Opinion More Complex Than the Next
The Supreme Court finally appears decently situated to complete its decision making for the term. Some holdups are still in play including the long since argued case of Gill v. Whitford. Gill was argued 255 days from the next possible opinion release date of June 14, 2018. Only 10 cases have taken longer to decide…
A Seismic Shift?
It seems out of a script by the writers of the film Groundhog Day. At the end of the term each year Court watchers await the impending retirement of a justice. Stories break in the months before June trying to sort through the imperfect information concerning such retirement plans. In recent years, speculation of an…
Attorneys and Firms for the 2017 Term
The current term at the Supreme Court has been anything but ordinary. With two argued cases already ruled moot the justices are down to 61 argued cases for possible signed decisions. This would tie last term for the fewest signed decisions in the modern Court era. Not only are the cases few and far between,…
Retirement Plan Blues
It is that time of year again. As we near the end of the Supreme Court term, we are experiencing another round of prognostications on whether Justice Kennedy will retire leaving another vacancy for the Trump Administration to fill (last year’s take on the possibility of Kennedy’s retirement can be found here). About this time of…
The State of the States Before the Supreme Court
Rather than originating from a federal court of appeal like the majority of cases before the Supreme Court, the most discussed case of this term came from a state court. Masterpiece Cakeshop was petitioned to the Supreme Court after a decision from the Colorado Court of Appeals and Colorado’s Solicitor General, Frederick Yarger, handled the argument for…
Even with Five Decisions Today the Court is Still Setting Records for its Slow Pace
Today marks the 225th day of the 2017 Supreme Court term. The Court compensated for a slow term so far with five new decisions. Even with decisions in cases Murphy v. NCAA, Dahda v. United States, Byrd v. United States, United States v. Sanchez-Gomez, and McCoy v. Louisiana, the Court is still behind its output every other…
Slicing and Dicing the Court’s 2017 Oral Arguments
While the Supreme Court is lagging in releasing its decisions this term, the justices wrapped up hearing oral arguments almost a month ago. The justices heard 63 oral arguments between October 2017 and April 2018. Within that block of time many expectations were reaffirmed while several new paths were blazed. Aside from those who sit…
Out of Steam or Out of Time
For those following the Supreme Court, the notion that the Court is moving slowly this term has already been reiterated multiple times. The first clear notion of the Court’s historically slow pace came with the timing of the Court’s second signed decision which was the modern Court’s latest second opinion released in a term. Other analyses…
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…
Not All Appeals Are Equal
Every year the lawyer research and ranking company Chambers & Partners (sometimes mentioned as C&P herein) puts out a list of top appellate lawyers and firms (in a previous post I looked at some of the listed firms’ cert performance). Chambers uses a mix of qualitative and quantitative methodology to come up with its various…
