The Court missed its hand-down opportunities this week (although the Justices favored us with another summary reversal on Monday, with Porter v. McCollum). Orders are expected Monday, and thus, as Roy Englert noted in the comment thread of my last post on this subject, it is probably out as a hand-down day for opinions in argued cases, since the Court tends not to issue opinions in argued cases on Mondays when it is both releasing orders and hearing argument. Thus, the first regular hand-down day of next week is December 8.
The Court thus appears to be on a glide-path to at least tie the latest initial hand-down day of the postwar era. (I’m obsessive-compulsive, but only obsessive-compulsive enough to check the stats back to October Term 1946; see my last post on the subject for the data.) The two other contenders are OT2007 and OT1984, both of which began on October 1 and had the first argued hand-down on December 4, a period of 64 days. If the first opinion in an argued case this Term is released on Tuesday, December 8, that will again be the 64th day of the Term. Of course, the arguments for the cases that will be decided this Term began during OT2008, on September 9, with Citizens United.
The slow start may portend significant dissents. (That said, I don’t recall many significant dissents among the first decisions out of OT07 or OT84, although the first opinions in OT07 were from the November sitting.) The Court’s four per curiam summary reversals (a high number for this early in the Term) may be contributing, but I don’t think they explain all the delay. We will see.
CVMe says:
Might it just be that with a front-loaded schedule (6 argument days with three arguments in Oct. and Nov.), the Justices have been busy preparing to hear cases rather than writing opinions and dissents? Add that to a slight adjustment for the addition of a new Justice, and of course O’Connor is no longer around to be the first out of the gate, and a couple of extra days for the first opinion doesn’t seem out of line. There are no more three argument days scheduled so I’m sure we’ll settle down to a more regular schedule of opinions in argued cases.
December 4, 2009, 12:11 amSoronel Haetir says:
With the opinion heft of other election cases it would not surprise me if Citizens United is giving the justices major headaches.
December 4, 2009, 12:33 amFriday Round-up | SCOTUSblog says:
[...] the Volokh Conspiracy, John Elwood follows up on his earlier post regarding the Court’s failure to hand down any [...]
December 4, 2009, 11:26 amRedman says:
Someone needs a diversion.
December 4, 2009, 11:53 amBrett Bellmore says:
Maybe it’s just that a Court that sets it’s own schedule is gradually getting more and more lazy.
December 4, 2009, 12:48 pmThe Volokh Conspiracy » Blog Archive » So . . . Where Are The (Argued) Supreme Court Opinions? Part III says:
[...] initial hand-down days of the postwar period, as outlined in my last two dull posts on the subject here and here). I am attempting to teach my son about the humor of repeating something long past the [...]
December 8, 2009, 5:09 pm