The Supreme Court's Shrinking Docket

By Virginia Prescott on Monday, October 5, 2009.

Today marks the beginning of the new Supreme Court term. (The campaign finance case heard last month was left over from the 2008 term.) On the 2009 docket? Disputes over anti-terrorism laws, gun rights, animal cruelty, prison terms for juvenile offenders, and separation of church and state are among the dozens of issues the court will consider this year.

It sounds pretty jam packed, right? Not compared to thirty years ago. In the early 1980's, the Supreme Court decided more than 150 cases a year. In 2007, it decided a mere seventy cases, or less than half as many. It’s a downward trend that research scholar David Stras from the University of Minnesota Law School is keeping an eye on. He joins us with more.

David Stras at Social Science Research Network: "The Supreme Court's Declining Plenary Docket: A Membership-Based Explanation"

The New York Times: "The Case of the Plummeting Supreme Court Docket"

OnTheDocket.org: 2009 Supreme Court cases

(Photo by dbking via Flickr/Creative Commons)

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Your story pointed up the problem with the US Supreme Court in that people fresh out of law school are the gatekeepers.
I am a retire attorney who can tell you for a fact that the Supreme Court is a joke.
I was involved in a case in which it was found that known fraud is entitled to full faith and credit. A NY judge knowing that a Mass probate of a divorced woman was a fraud, because he had dismissed the divorce complaint, gave full faith and credit to the Mass. probate decree and dismissed the husband's petition for probate. The case was at the NY Court of Appeals and the NY Times agreed to do a story on the case when it was decided. If we won, how justice prevailed; if we lost, what a travesty.
Unfortunately, the NY Court of Appeals decided the case on September 16, 2001. The NY Times reporter handling the story advised there was only one story: 911.
A Cert. Petition was filed with the US Supreme Court and was denied.

Full faith and credit is dealt with for one class in the first year of law school in Constitutional Law; maybe the clerk missed that class.

Submitted by Dean on Mon, 10/05/2009 - 11:54.

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Word of Mouth is all about what's new. Online and on-air, the show looks at our fascinating and ever-changing world, and puts the latest ideas under a microscope. Word of Mouth investigates everything from science and technology, to health and the environment, to new trends in popular culture. The show airs Monday through Thursday at noon and is hosted by Virginia Prescott.