The Monkey Cage

The photo sums up the Supreme Court, 5 (sitting) - 4 (standing), although not in the 5-4 traditional decision making order. Wow, under 80 decisions this term. When the cert applications are considered for the next term, SCOTUS will wax Shakespearean: “To decide or not to decide, that is the question.” Alas, another year of no heavy lifting, which may be difficult while wearing robes.

All the deference that these judges get from everybody, every day, has got to go to their heads. Of course, they think they’re experts on absolutely everything.

without being an apologist for the current state of the court, it should be noted that counting cases gives little indication of whether the justices or more or less busy. opinions, after all, now number in the hundreds of pages (whether they need to or not is a separate question).

also, it may be that the court is cognizantly taking fewer cases, as an expression of its self-understood role/place in the process/polity (whether we agree with this self-understanding is also a separate question).

so, without actually expressing any support for the way they go about their jobs, even at the logistical level, it is worth noting that the court’s lower case load can be explained by something other than laziness and/or frivolity.

” … it is worth noting that the court’s lower case load can be explained by something other than laziness and/or frivolity.”

Perhaps it is the desire to craft much longer opinions since they may have more time - and clerks - to better provide their places in SCOTUS history.

I think they’ve gotten a bit sensitive to the politicization of the Court, and they’re punting on tough questions that they’re punting on decisions to avoid either a) eroding their legitimacy further, or b) making a mealy-mouthed decision in the meantime.

A judicial politics person might know the answer: is the Court ducking the questions more often?

Stevens should stick to his day job. I’ve never been impressed with the ‘Oxfordian’ view of Shakespeare authorship, which has been debated ad nauseum. Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare.