As 2014 draws to a close, the Supreme Court has finished with its announcement of decisions for this year. The Court issued opinions in 2 cases this week: (i) affirming (8-1) the decision in Heien v. North Carolina that reasonable mistakes about the law by police officers do not violate the Fourth Amendment and (ii) reversing (5-4) the decision in Dart Cherokee Basin Operating Co. v. Owens and holding that a notice of removal does not need evidentiary support, only a plausible allegation that the amount in controversy exceeds the state threshold.
After the oral argument, I found both decisions hard to predict based on the question counts. But I’m happy to report my predictions in both Heien and Dart Cherokee were right.
So far, I’ve correctly predicted the outcomes in all 4 cases the Supreme Court has decided this Term. To be honest, I’m surprised by the perfect score. But I’ll take it because I know there are many other cases this Term I found very difficult to predict.