SCOTUSblog: Term Tracker Archives

Term Tracker

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

First StatPack, and a State of the Docket Update

03:39 PM | Jason Harrow | Comments (4)

The first edition of the StatPack for OT07 is now available here, and it is updated with information about all the cases set for argument so far this Term, including today’s 17 grants that emerged from the Long Conference. With no cases yet decided, the download includes the case list, including summaries of each case granted; the grant chart by Conference; and the Circuit Scorecard.

Turning to the docket: with none of today’s granted cases sufficiently expedited to be argued during the December sitting, the Court has only seven cases with which to fill out the fall’s argument calendar. This means that the Court will hear nine cases in the October sitting (including one day with only one argument; see here), ten cases in the November sitting (including two days with only one argument; see here), and seven in the December sitting. Since there are six days scheduled for argument during that sitting, either several days of argument will be canceled or all but one day will have only one argument. The amount of open space on the December calendar also raises the possibility that the now-consolidated cases dealing with Guantanamo detainees, Boumediene and Al-Odah, could be afforded two hours of oral argument. Additionally, Dan Schweitzer of NAAG points out that an original case (New Jersey v. Delaware) will be sufficiently briefed by the end of September so that it, too, may come for oral argument during the December sitting.

Still, with today’s deluge of grants, the 43 cases the Court now has agreed to hear put it five grants ahead of last Term’s pace, so a return to a more traditional two-argument-per-day schedule may be in the offing for the remainder of the Term. However, careful readers of today’s Order List will note that all 17 granted cases have been expedited, with briefing to conclude by December 28. That would make all 17 cases briefed and ready to be argued in January, if the Court so desired. The last time the Court’s docket overflowed in a similar manner – with 16 cases granted in January of 2007 – the Court did indeed schedule afternoon arguments for four days during the April sitting, rather than letting the extra cases roll over to the next Term.

It’s not known yet whether the Court will set all 17 of today’s granted cases for argument in January, and hence will continue to have some sittings featuring more than the traditional two-arguments-per-day and some sittings with fewer, or whether the Court will use today’s overflow to help re-establish the previous norm by holding several off until February. When additional argument calendars are released, we will post them as soon as possible.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

"Petitions to Watch" in OT06

02:51 PM | Jason Harrow | Comments (0)

We thought it would be useful to look back at the blog’s Petitions to Watch feature and corresponding "Conference Call" column for Legal Times. All of the petitions we featured – along with the several hundred cert. documents filed in many of the cases – can be found at this webpage.

It was obviously a slow term. The Court granted only 56 cases in the 12 months between July of 2006 and June of 2007; according to statistics from the Harvard Law Review, that’s the lowest number of paid grants over any year in the Court’s modern history. For more on OT06’s record-low docket, see this post.

While we don’t yet have an exact count of how many paid cases were considered over the past 12 months, it looks to be roughly 1600-1700 cases; that means that somewhere in the neighborhood of 3% of the paid cases the Court considered were granted. Tom flagged 47 of those, or about 84%, as potential grants. (Two didn’t make it onto the published lists as a result of logistical snafus.) Nineteen paid cases were CVSG’d in the same time span; we had 15 on the list, for 79%.

An additional 14 pauper cases were granted this Term. While we don’t track those cases as part of our regular coverage – it’s logistically next-to-impossible given the volume – we did try to spotlight a number that looked like they were going to be seriously considered.

Ultimately, we featured 223 petitions – about 13% of the paid cases. As noted, 47 were granted, for a grant rate of 21%, while another 15 (7%) were sent to the SG. 16 additional cases were held, GVR’d, settled, withdrawn, or not denied for any reason – another 7%. Finally, 143 of our 223 cases were eventually denied (64%).

Continue reading ""Petitions to Watch" in OT06" »

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

"Conference Call" Petitions to Watch: 6/21

05:02 PM | Jason Harrow | Comments (0)

The final edition of "Conference Call" this Term ran in Legal Times on Monday (column archive here; subscription req'd) featured petitions to watch for Thursday's Conference; the SCOTUSblog supplement, containing downloadable versions of the highlighted petitions (and, thanks to the continuing assistance of those involved in the cases, a great many other cert. stage filings), can now be found here. Sometime next week, we'll have an end-of-Term update regarding the ultimate disposition of all the cases we selected.

Previous editions of "Petitions to Watch" can be accessed via the "Term Tracker" link.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Updated "StatPack"

06:35 PM | Jason Harrow | Comments (0)

The latest edition of StatPack, featuring updates reflecting today's opinions and a few additional minor tweaks, can be found here. The next update will occur on Monday to reflect the Court's release of orders and opinions.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

"Conference Call" Petitions to Watch: 6/14

05:26 PM | Jason Harrow | Comments (0)

Monday's edition of "Conference Call" column in Legal Times (column archive here; subscription req'd) featured petitions to watch for tomorrow's Conference; the SCOTUSblog supplement, containing downloadable versions of the highlighted petitions (and, thanks to the continuing assistance of those involved in the cases, a great many other cert. stage filings), can now be found here.

Previous editions of "Petitions to Watch" can be accessed via the "Term Tracker" link.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

New Edition of the "StatPack"

08:02 PM | Jason Harrow | Comments (0)

Edition 5 of SCOTUSblog's "Stat Pack," including updates through yesterday's action from the Court, can now be downloaded here. Other than updating the data to reflect yesterday's five unanimous decisions, the only thing we've added is the voting data from last Term for the sake of comparison.

Note that we're now only including the four statistical sections in the Pack, and not the case lists. The list of remaining cases for OT06 can be downloaded here. The OT07 list, which now features 20 cases, can be found here.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

New StatPack, Two New Sections

12:25 PM | Jason Harrow | Comments (0)

In our continuing quest to provide you with as much information about the Court as possible, we’ve added two new sections to our “StatPack” this week. In fact, as we keep adding features, the download is getting more difficult to navigate. Thus, you can download the full pack by clicking here, or you can download each section separately at the end of this post.

The first new feature comes by reader suggestion: you’ll now find decisions this Term broken down by vote, so that you can see the number of 5-4 or unanimous cases at a glance (you can download just this section here). For next week’s StatPack, we’ll be making this feature even more comprehensive by adding this data from previous Terms for comparison’s sake.

Second, we now have a new page featuring the tally for the Court’s workload this Term. As noted here, things may change subtly between now and the Summer Recess, but it’s expected that the Court will issue 66 merits decisions after argument this Term. The Court is also on pace for 70 total merits decisions when summary reversals are included (note that argued cases that were dismissed are not included in these totals).

Both of those numbers are new modern lows for the Court, as 66 decisions after argument would be some 7% lower than last Term’s modern low of 71 cases. Such a drop has not been unexpected at all for Court-watchers, as the Court’s expanded workload in April did not entirely make up for its previously noted shortfall in cases argued during the December, February, and March sittings. Moreover, the slight dip continues the overall trend in the Court’s workload, as the Court has not decided more than 80 cases after argument since OT97, and has not decided more than 100 cases after argument since OT92 (for data going back to OT90, see this memo). Unless something remarkable happens in the next few weeks, however, the Court’s number of merits decisions after argument will dip below 70 for the first time in its modern history.

The individual section downloads can be found after the jump.

Continue reading "New StatPack, Two New Sections" »

"Conference Call" Petitions to Watch: 6/7

10:52 AM | Jason Harrow | Comments (0)

The "Conference Call" column in Legal Times is on a one-week hiatus (column archive here; subscription req'd), but the SCOTUSblog supplement for this Thursday's Conference, containing downloadable versions of the highlighted petitions (and, thanks to the continuing assistance of those involved in the cases, a great many other cert. stage filings), can nonetheless be found here.

Previous editions of "Petitions to Watch" can be accessed via the "Term Tracker" link.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

"Conference Call" Petitions to Watch: 5/31

02:09 PM | Jason Harrow | Comments (0)

The latest edition of "Conference Call" in Legal Times (column archive here; subscription req'd) featured petitions to watch for the Justices' Conference of 5/31. The SCOTUSblog supplement, containing downloadable versions of the highlighted petitions (and, thanks to the continuing assistance of those involved in the cases, a great many other cert. stage filings), can now be found here.

Previous editions of "Petitions to Watch" can be accessed via the "Term Tracker" link.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

New "Stat Pack"

07:39 PM | Jason Harrow | Comments (2)

You can now download an updated edition of the "Stat Pack" here.

If you have any suggestions for what other information should be included each week, email me here.