Clarence Thomas Is A Real Cool Guy
C-Span followed Clarence Thomas around his book release party at the home of Armstrong Williams. Its a rather amusing video with cameos from David Souter, Antonin Scalia, John Roberts, Stephen Breyer,...
View ArticleWhich Justice Is The Most Talkative?
Two months into the term, the Supreme Court has held oral arguments in 19 different cases. After reading a few of the transcripts, I thought it would be interesting to see which Justices spoke most...
View ArticleWho Is The Funniest Justice?
After finding the most talkative Justice, I was interested in finding the funniest Justice. According to my calculations, there were 51 total references to (Laughter.) in the court’s first two months...
View ArticleThoughts on Boumediene Oral Arguments
Oral Arguments took place this morning in Boumediene v. Bush and its sister case, Al-Odah v. US. Because of the heightened interest in the case, the Supreme Court opted to expedite the delivery of the...
View ArticleSurprisingly Candid McCain and Obama Discuss Current SCOTUS Makeup,...
Earlier tonight, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama joined Pastor Rick Warren at his California megachurch for an event pegged as “The Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency.” The interviews, each...
View ArticleAwkward
Yesterday during Oral Arguments in Kansas v. Colorado, this jewel came up during oral arguments: [Justice Souter asks a question] MR. SUTHERS: Justice Ginsburg, 1920 — JUSTICE SOUTER: I’m greatly...
View ArticlePresident Obama and the Future of the Supreme Court
The future is bleak for democrats and judicial liberals. The average age of the four conservatives is 60.75 years (Roberts(53), Scalia (72), Thomas(60), Alito(58)). The average age of the four...
View ArticleCourt Appears to Deny Stay in Donofrio v. Wells
The Supreme Court appears to have declined review in a case filed against the Secretary of State of New Jersey that sought to nullify Barack Obama’s election to the presidency. The case, which centers...
View ArticleFishing for a Story: How the Media Is Reading Too Much Into Referrals of...
Over the course of the past week, both the blogosphere and mainstream media have been spending quite a bit of time over at the Supreme Court rumor mill. There has been a lot of buzz about two cases...
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Oral Argument Stats Posted
Once again, I’ve conjured up some charts marking how often each Justice spoke during oral arguments in the first half of the term. You can find a detailed look into my methodology here but to...
View ArticleFootnotes in Supreme Court Opinions
The use footnotes has been a topic of quiet conversation around the judiciary for some time now. One group of Judges and practitioners (and an even larger percentage of students) find them to be...
View ArticleSupreme Introductions
(Nearly) every majority opinion features a short introduction before it jumps into the standard I, II, III, IV, etc structure. Some Justices simply introduce the facts very briefly (Scalia), while...
View ArticleATL Reports That Souter Hasn’t Hired For OT09
Above the Law is reporting that Justice Souter hasn’t hired any clerks for OT09 and suggests that it may hint towards his retirement. I think this is an example of ATL jumping the gun and overrating...
View ArticleJustice Souter’s Concurring Opinion in US v. Navajo Nation
In US v. Navajo Nation, the Court affirmed their decision from six years ago to limit the royalties that the Native American tribe could collect from coal deals made several decades ago. Justice Souter...
View ArticleSources: Souter to Retire – What Now?
Several sources are reporting that Justice Souter will retire at the end of the term (NBC here). It isn’t terribly surprising, ATL had been reporting that he hasn’t hired terms for OT09 and UTR...
View ArticleNominee Speculation
The AP wire is reporting on a possible nominees to replace Justice Souter. Most news sources are reporting that President Obama will nominate a woman. He is also under considerable pressure to nominate...
View ArticlePossible Impact of Justice Souter’s Replacement
It would be naive to think that Justice Souter’s replacement won’t have a major impact on the future of the Supreme Court. At a minimum, if President Obama were to simply hit the refresh button on...
View ArticleJustice Souter Formally Announces His Retirement; Will Not Remain Beyond OT08
Justice Souter has officially given President Obama notice of his intent to retire at the end of the current term. His notification seemed to suggest that he will not remain in his position until his...
View ArticleOfficial Statements from Eight Members of the Supreme Court on Justice...
The Court issued a press release in which Justice Souter’s colleages expressed their best wishes towards him. I’ve reprinted them in full below: STATEMENTS FROM THE SUPREME COURT REGARDING JUSTICE...
View ArticleThe Final Opinions
The Supreme Court will hand down the final three opinions of the term tomorrow when it holds its last public session before its summer recess. The Court will also bid farewell to Justice Souter, as it...
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