I hate to admit this, given that many of you are visiting us for the latest exciting news as we near the end of the Supreme Court term, but my own take is that this Term is proving to be notably quiet.
Compared to past Terms, it seems like hardly anything has happened. Maybe it’s just that the Court’s docket was particularly low (especially in my area, criminal procedure, where almost nothing happened). And maybe the race-in-the-schools case will be a blockbuster when it comes out. But with just a few decisions left, it seems like the Term is notable for the fact that the docket was small and most of the decisions were pretty narrow.
I’m making a relative point, of course. What the Supreme Court does is often important, even if it’s less important than past years. And you can always take the camera and zoom in to make the little things seem big. But the major story of the Term seems to be not what happened this Term, but rather what might happen in the future if trends and clues continue. Which itself help makes the point: it’s been a pretty quiet Term.