Even Best Friends Sometimes Disagree

Supreme Court Justices voting practices are fairly predictable.  For instance, most decisions are unanimous. Since the longest serving justice on the Court, Justice Thomas joined the Court in 1991 42.65% of argued cases have returned unanimous votes.  The Court also tends to reverse lower court decisions. The justices voted to reverse the lower court decision…

Female Justices Take the Reins to Start Off SCOTUS’ 2022 Oral Arguments

The first argument of 2022 in Sackett v. EPA also marked Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s first argument as a newly appointed justice.  After several of her peers on the Court completed introductory questions, Justice Jackson chimed in by piggybacking on top of the previous question asked by Justice Kagan.  Justice Jackson began by asking about…

Justice Breyer’s Legacy In Numbers

Much of the Supreme Court landscape has changed since Justice Breyer joined the Supreme Court in 1994.  Breyer is currently the second longest-tenured justice on the Court after Justice Thomas. The ideological balance has changed from a 5-4 conservative/liberal composition with the occasional swing vote from Justice Kennedy in the middle.  With the three Trump-appointed…