Today the Supreme Court issued three more opinions, bringing the total to 29 decisions so far this season (out of 61 contested cases). This is on par with what we saw last term, albeit at a slower pace than usual for the court despite its smaller size.
Comparing the number of opinions issued by the end of May this year with the total number of opinions for each of the previous five periods is as follows.
- OT2023—29
- OT2022—29
- OT2021—33
- OT2020—39
- OT2019—36
- OT2018—44
Relative slowdown One possibility is that whatever procedures the court adopts after the case Dobbs The leak has delayed work at the court. Another possibility is that the remaining cases are sufficiently difficult or divisive that they take more time to complete. Whatever the cause, the court must make an average of decisions per day to complete its work by the end of June.
While the court is relatively slow in providing opinions, it is surprisingly unanimous in its opinions. The justices reached unanimous rulings in 20 of the 29 cases decided so far, including today’s unanimous ruling by Judge Sotomayor. NRA vs Vullo, We sided with the National Rifle Association against New York financial regulators. Of the remaining nine cases, two were decided 7-2 and seven were decided 6-3. Of potential interest is that only three of the six-three decisions handed down so far have split the court along traditional conservative-liberal lines. In two of the three cases, the majority was decided by Justice Alito (sonnel, alexander). Justice Kavanaugh wrote the third opinion (curly).
There is good reason to think that the court will be less unanimous and perhaps more conservative than we have seen this term. This is not just because courts tend to make their most controversial and politically divisive decisions toward the end of their terms. Terms. So far this term, liberal justices have written a disproportionate share of the court’s opinions (13 of the 27 signed opinions) despite representing only a third of the court. What we have seen so far suggests that the court’s liberals are likely to hold a relatively small minority of the remaining majority opinions.
In terms of personal opinion authorship, our position is as follows:
- Sotomayor: 6
- Kagan: 4
- Alito: 3
- Cavanaugh: 3
- Barrett: 3
- Jackson: 3
- Thomas: 2
- Gorsuch: 2
- CJ Roberts: 1
Additionally, there were two opinions per curiam and it is likely that some cases will be merged into a single opinion (e.g. two opinions). chevron example, cruel and Loafer-Bright It will almost certainly be decided by a single opinion).
Given that the court has heard arguments in 61 cases, each justice can only issue six or seven decisions, leaving Justice Sotomayor to finish writing the majority opinion this term and Kagan and Jackson each leaving only minority opinions. . Of the 30 forthcoming opinions, we can expect more than two-thirds to be written by the court’s conservatives. In particular, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has been speechless, having only made one decision so far. Don’t be surprised if he writes Trump immunity cases and courts. chevron example.
