Professor and ISCOTUS codirector Carolyn Shapiro appeared on Chicago Tonight last evening, with other panelists, to discuss the future of the Supreme Court under President Trump. The panelists agreed that filling Justice Scalia’s seat is unlikely to lead to much change in the Court’s ideological balance.  But even with additional nominations, Shapiro  is “skeptical that … Continue reading Chicago Tonight discussion on the Supreme Court under President Trump →

The Supreme Court’s scheduled activity this week consists of orders from its November 10 conference, issued on Monday, November 14. The Court did not add any new cases to its docket. It did not act on a number of cases that had been relisted, suggesting that those cases are still under consideration, that the Court … Continue reading The Week Ahead – November 14, 2016 →

The Supreme Court will not hear any arguments this week. (It generally hears arguments two weeks each month between October and April.) As we wait for arguments to resume on October 31, some are speculating the eight-member Court is granting certiorari in fewer cases because of the justices’ concern about ties. But a column in … Continue reading The Week Ahead in the Supreme Court–October 24, 2016 →

By ISCOTUS Co-Director Carolyn Shapiro The Supreme Court’s new Term officially begins on the first Monday in October with oral arguments (although this year, due to Rosh Hashanah, it will be the first Tuesday in October). But before that happens, the Court has some very important business. The justices have not met since the end … Continue reading The Term Begins: The Long Conference →

On April 5, 1979, the New York Times ran on its Op-Ed page a piece by Yale Law Professor Robert Cover titled “Your Law-Baseball Quiz.” Each of the six questions began with the name of a Supreme Court Justice, followed by a list of four Major League Baseball players. The object of the quiz was … Continue reading Remembering Yogi Berra (and Earl Warren) →

  For whom do the justices write their opinions? In the run-of-the-mill Supreme Court ruling, the answer to this question seems self-evident. Who would plow through a lengthy, often technical, always citation-laden opinion other than judges, lawyers and law professors? Yet when it comes to big ones, the minority of decisions that capture the attention … Continue reading The Supreme Court and Its Audience →

The headline from today’s major rulings involving the Affordable Care Act and the Fair Housing Act is that the supposedly “conservative” Roberts Court continues to produce a remarkably “liberal” series of decisions. The surprising success of the Court’s left-leaning justices this Term had been noted even before today, and most observers believe the liberals are … Continue reading Some Thoughts on the “Liberal” Day at the Supreme Court →