Last term was supposed to be different. The Court faced the leak of the Dobbs draft opinion in May of 2022 and all signs pointed at that point to the Court’s officers expending effort to attempt to prevent such an instance from recurring. This effort in deterrence potentially slowed the decision release process for the…
Tag: justice thomas
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…
April 8 Week in Review
This week started out with a new post on the schools and lower court clerkships that will most likely land a former law student a Supreme Court clerkship. The post can be found here. Next up was a look at the cases decided so far this term and the justices who authored each opinion. Justices…
What to Expect from Justice Breyer’s Retirement and Judge Jackson’s (Presumptive) Confirmation to the Court
Now that Senator Manchin declared he will vote to confirm Judge Jackson to the Supreme Court, Jackson’s confirmation in a week or so is all but a foregone conclusion. Will Jackson usher in a new era of judging on the Court? This outcome is very unlikely. The Court now has six conservative, republican nominated justices…
A Wild Ride of a Term with Twenty Decisions Still to Go
The 2018 Supreme Court Term has taken many twists and turns, and there are still 20 decisions the Court has to release in its last week and a half of work before summer recess. Much may change between now and then, but with 55 cases already decided, we have unique and surprising patterns of decision-making among the justices. This is most apparent in the Court’s 5-4 (or 5-3) decisions, where one vote could shift a decision in a different direction.
Who’s in the Majority?
While few people ever have the opportunity of sitting on the Supreme Court, some similarities exist between this upper echelon of judging and other jobs. One parallel has to do with job satisfaction. While judges that make it all the way to the Supreme Court should feel accomplished and contented by their achievements, there also…
What to Expect From Kavanaugh’s 1st Term
The tense waiting is now over as Justice Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court on October 6th 2018. One of the big stories following Kavanaugh though is his low rate of public approval. This low rate of approval was apparent soon after Kavanaugh was nominated. Not only this, but as the figure below shows, Kavanaugh was…
Opinion Stats: Cooper v. Harris and Word Count Comparison for 5/22/2017
Cooper v. Harris Opinion Oral Argument Kagan Majority Sentences 718 Words 9826 Characters 49263 Syllables 15499 Polysyllables 1632 Words per sentence 13.685 Syllables per sentence 21.586 Syllables per word 1.577 Thomas Concurrence Sentences 20 Words 262 Characters 1246 Syllables 384 Polysyllables 43 Words per sentence 13.1 Syllables per sentence 19.2 Syllables per word 1.466 Alito…
Opinion Stats: TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC
This is the first of a new and (hopefully) regular feature added to the blog. Link to Opinion Link to Oral Argument Thomas Majority Opinion When each Justice/Attorney Spoke
How Justice Thomas’ Discontent Channels Justice Douglas
Over the past year the Supreme Court has in many ways lacked consistency. Its membership has changed, there was a long period of uncertainty as to the future ideological balance of the Court, and with this uncertain future the Court looked like it might make its first strong shift to the left since the Warren…
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…
King of Dissents
In a time of transition in the Supreme Court, much attention is paid to the Court’s ideological pulse. Justices Thomas and Alito, two of the more conservative Justices on the Court are the top two dissenter so far this Term (see below). Justice Thomas in particular was noted for his lone dissent in the death…
Empirical SCOTUS 