SCOTUS MOVING AT A SNAIL’S PACE | Gorsuch’s First Year | Why Justices Suddenly Got So Chatty

April 9, 2018

Lawrence Hurley with Reuters reports that the Supreme Court seems to be struggling to reach a decision in a key case on the court’s docket this term. JUSTICE STEPHEN BREYER recently suggested that the court may want to put off a decision altogether. Hurley reports on Breyer’s comment that came during oral argument in the second big partisan gerrymandering case of the term, and Hurley tries to get to the bottom of why the justices have been so slow to deliver rulings this year.

Richard Wolf with USA Today reports that after only one year on the Supreme Court bench, JUSTICE NEIL GORSUCH has already confirmed conservatives’ hopes and liberals’ fears with his staunch, unapologetic conservatism.

Similarly, AP’s Jessica Gresko takes a look at Gorsuch’s first year, analyzing what observers have seen from the freshman justice both inside and outside the court. She looks into his writing style, his way of asking questions during oral arguments and his important contribution of fixing the meatball sub problem in the SCOTUS cafeteria.

The Editorial Board for The New York Times asserts that judges shouldn’t be partisan punching bags noting, “Across the country, state judges are under increasing fire from lawmakers and outside groups angered by their rulings, their power, their tenure or simply their independence. That independence is, of course, central to the separation of powers, which defines American government, and to the legitimacy of the judicial branch in the eyes of the public. Going after judges for partisan reasons may not be a particularly new pastime, but it has become more popular as America’s politics have become more polarized and as brute tribal warfare replaces a respect for basic democratic values.”

A new study examining the full transcripts of every oral argument over 55 years, from 1960 to 2015, finds that while judicial silence used to be quite ordinary, justices’ speaking time during oral arguments has skyrocketed in recent years. In The Washington Post, Tonja Jacobi and Matthew Sag explain the study’s findings and what possibly caused such behavior changes in our justices.

“When the full Supreme Court resumes arguments in mid-April, the Court will be short by one justice when it considers a long-running dispute about salmon fishing, Indian treaty rights, and culverts in the state of Washington.” That’s Scott Bomboy with Constitution Daily previewing the upcoming salmon case which will notably not be reviewed by JUSTICE ANTHONY KENNEDY. He writes, “With eight Justices on the bench for the April 18 arguments, Washington v. United States should get its fair share of attention. Cases involving fishing rights and fishing in general do come before the Court on a regular basis.”