SCOTUS Predictions Based on Lower Court Judges

One of the best ways to forecast future events is through past trends.  The U.S. Supreme Court hears the majority of its cases after a decision is rendered by one of the 13 federal courts of appeals.  Since there are 13 circuits and the Supreme Court takes somewhere between 60 and 70 cases each term…

The SCOTUS Tortoise and the Hare

With nine justices on the Supreme Court, consensus among five justices is necessary for any successful voting coalition.  Knowing this, there appears to be little incentive to vote alone.  Solo votes don’t have the power to generate precedent and do not even foreshadow any likelihood of gaining more adherents to such a view among a…

Many SCOTUS Friends with Ideological Interests in OT 2021

Less than one month ago the Supreme Court released its decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health overturning 50 years of precedent protecting the right to an abortion. 133 amicus curiae filed friend of the Court briefs on behalf of both sides of this issue. This represents the most amicus briefs filed…

6-3 is the new SCOTUS 5-4

What this means? The Court’s most common split vote this term was six justices in the majority and three justices in dissent. The most frequent six justices in the majority were the Court’s conservative justices and the most frequent in the dissent were the three liberal justices. Why this matters? The Court’s biggest cases came…

Comparing The Draft and Final Opinions in Dobbs

The official opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health was released this morning.  According to Jake Truscott it was the third-longest Supreme Court opinion since 1946 and the longest of this term by over 10,000 words (the second-longest so far was the NY Rifle opinion released two days prior).  When Politico released the draft opinion…

Was it Ever Really Roberts’ Court?

It has been a long two weeks for the Supreme Court.  Since the leak of Alito’s opinion in the Dobbs abortion case, several of the Supreme Court Justices have come forward offering their thoughts on the leak. According to the Washington Post, “Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. called the leak ‘absolutely appalling.’ The Supreme…