The End of Super-Precedents
Supreme Courts have a unique feature in the American system: they get to define the precedent that other courts must follow. Therefore, contrary to what you might hear in certain corners of social imagination, Supreme courts are NOT the precedent-following institutions; the lower courts are. But in terms of jurisprudence, this can get a little […]
On the Failure of Martin-Quinn Scores
Why are scholars still using these scores as “ideology measures” for SCOTUS? The 2020 term just ended, and here is what the scores appear to say (see image below). They say that every Trump appointee, along with Roberts, are a set of justices who are less directional than the justices appointed by New Democrats. They […]
Why Kagan v. Kavanaugh Matters
Mark Joseph Stern has offered us an interesting prophesy in Slate. His thesis, a bit hard to extract, is that Kagan has become pissed at Kavanaugh for hardening to the right. And that the weird barbs she has been throwing at him in two cases this term, in Borden and Edwards, are evidence not of […]