The Return of “Conference Call”

In certain previous Terms, Tom has identified the group of cert. petitions that had a reasonable chance of being granted cert. for a column called “Conference Call” that ran in the Legal Times and other American Lawyer Media publications. “Conference Call” typically featured a detailed analysis of one petition of particular interest, along with a summary of the questions presented in all of the other noteworthy petitions. This Term will see the return of the regular publication of that column. “Conference Call” will run in the Legal Times (and other ALM publications) on the Monday before each Conference; grants and denials in these cases are typically announced on the next day that the Court is in session following the Conference. This Term’s first “Conference Call” appeared today in the Legal Times, and it can be found online here [registration req’d].

“Conference Call” in print will be similar to what it has been in past years, but this Term will see additional information regarding cert. petitions on SCOTUSblog. For instance, we will begin having the full-text of each noteworthy cert. petition available electronically for download so that you may find out more detail about any cases of particular interest; in fact, last week, we made the list of noteworthy petitions on the opening Conference list available (click here). (One side note regarding this feature: in order to help us post these cert. petitions as quickly as possible, if you are involved in the submission of a paid cert. petition to the Supreme Court, sending it electronically to jharrow [at] akingump.com as it is filed would be much appreciated.)

Along with the complete petitions in all cases that Tom has selected as reasonable candidates for cert., we are also going to make available scans of the cover page and questions presented for every paid petition that is filed with the Court starting with 06-1 and updated on a rolling basis (pro se petitions will not be included). The first set, featuring petitions from 06-1 to 06-219, is now available by clicking here.

We hope that the regular publication of the “Conference Call” column, the availability of complete petitions in every case with a reasonable chance of a cert. grant, and a scan of every paid petition’s “Questions Presented” page will allow you to keep track of the goings-on at the Supreme Court more closely than was previously available anywhere other than 1 First Street.