DailyWrit » Administrative

DailyTweet

Kedar — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 04:45:39 +0000

I set up a twitter feed for this website and you can find it at http://twitter.com/dailywrit.

I don’t know how many of you are into twitter, but I’ll almost certainly update the twitter with stories that aren’t quite dailywrit-worthy and other irreverent commentary. If you’re into that kind of thing, then you should check it out.

Tags: Administrative

Term Index Updated

Kedar — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:22:32 +0000

I’ve updated the Term Case Index to reflect the four opinions handed down this week. Earlier today I released opinion authorship statistics sorted by month. You can find the Term Index here and the authorship data here.

Tags: Administrative

Texas Amici Society

Kedar — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:41:15 +0000

Several weeks ago, I started an official organization at the University of Texas called the Texas Amici Society. You can find our website at TexasAmici.org.

The experience of writing and filing a brief in Ricci v. DeStefano is one I will not soon forget. I had the incredible fortune of writing on the same side as a group of lawyers from the city in which I live and the opportunity to meet them and learn about the process was fantastic. The case was thrilling and oral arguments happened to be on a non-class day for me. I went to Washington and met the legal teams on both sides of the case. Clarence Thomas read my amicus brief (maybe). I’m not sure the stars will align so perfectly again.

My hope with this organization is that it will foster interest amongst other students for topics in Constitutional Law. Our end goal is to file amicus briefs in courts in the United States in a way that is beneficial to the cases in which we participate. It would not be difficult to write and submit poorly-researched and poorly-argued briefs for the sake of filing them, but their filing is disfavored, disrespectful, and not something that I am willing to further.

Right now, this organization is supported in large-part by my knowledge of the process and my enthusiasm to file a brief in US v. Stevens. My goal, and one that is slowly being realized, is that individuals will take on initiative of their own and that our organization will be able to work on several briefs simultaneously, with different groups of students working together on cases. I could choose to continue to file briefs as an individual and solicit help from time-to-time, but the idea of getting other students engaged in the process is more appealing to me. I have the good fortune of working on the current brief with a group of intelligent and fascinating students who are all eager to produce a quality product and, perhaps more importantly, wiling to sacrifice the time it takes to produce a great brief. As OT08 winds down to a close, we will likely begin only with this case and I do not foresee us taking any other cases for the term. Our first real test will be the beginning of OT09 when the Court will grant review in 10-15 cases to start off the term. Hopefully, we will have the infrastructure in place to participate in two or three of those cases.

Right now, cases which have already been granted cert. are the most accessible for our group but hopefully as we develop we will begin to take cases at the cert. stage. In a few weeks, we will be meeting with a group of attorneys to discuss Stevens and amicus-writing in general. As our group grows, I will almost certainly be looking around the legal community to individuals and groups for help and advice on cases before the Court.

If you have any questions about the Society, visit the website at TexasAmici.org or send me an email.

Tags: Administrative, Amicus Curiae, Texas Amici Society

Amicus Brief in US v. Stevens

Kedar — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:51:43 +0000

Provided without further comment: I will be filing a brief as amicus curiae in US v. Stevens with the Texas Amici Society, an organization I started at the University of Texas.

Tags: Administrative, Amicus Curiae, Procedure, Texas Amici Society

Amicus Brief Filing in Ricci v. DeStefano

Kedar — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:49:30 +0000

I filed an amicus brief this morning in Ricci v. DeStefano (07-1428, 08-328.) You can find the brief here.

Tags: Administrative, Ricci v. DeStefano

Court to Resume Business On Monday

Kedar — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 02:22:29 +0000

The Supreme Court will sit again on Monday morning for the February sitting and will likey release several opinions. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the Court has released 5-6 opinions in the first week of its February sitting over the last few years, and we have no reason to assume they won’t release just as many this year. Everyone be watching Justice Ginsburg (who is expected to be at the sitting) very closely to see if she’s lost any of the vigor she has been known for in the past.

Personally, I’ll also have more time to devote because my amicus brief is due in Ricci this week, so I’ll finally be able to get it out the door.

Tags: Administrative, Peering Into The Crystal Ball, Procedure, Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Updated Term Case Index

Kedar — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:21:08 +0000

I’ve updated the 2008 Term Case Index to reflect today’s opinion. With the opinions issued today, the Court’s total number of written opinions comes to 15, but that takes into account the 3 per curiam opinions that were decided without being docketed for oral arguments.

The Court will likely be done accepting cases for this term after Friday’s conference. To fill the March and April sittings with two cases per day, the Court would need to accept six more cases.

Tags: Administrative

What Is Your Favorite Quote From A Supreme Court Opinion?

Kedar — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:32:15 +0000

I’ve spent the last few days updating the look of the site and I’m very happy with the end result. I also updated the software that runs the site and, after a few nerve-racking hours, WordPress 2.7 was installed and running smoothly.

Now here’s where you all come in. In the top-right corner of the blog you’ll notice a famous quote from a Supreme Court opinion. So far I have about 13 rotating randomly but I’m looking to expand.

Leave your favorite quote from a Supreme Court opinion below and I’ll set it into the rotation. Funny, profound, confusing, or otherwise- if it’s from an opinion handed down by the Supreme Court I’d love to have it.

Tags: Administrative, Supreme Court

Oral Argument Stats Posted

Kedar — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:25:11 +0000

Once again, I’ve conjured up some charts marking how often each Justice spoke during oral arguments in the first half of the term. You can find a detailed look into my methodology here but to summarize, these numbers represent the number of times ‘JUSTICE ______’ is mentioned in the oral argument transcripts posted on the Court’s website here. Searching only for the capitalized phrase eliminates catching respectful mentions of the Justices from counsel. Click on the files to see a larger image.

Once again, Justice Scalia comes in as the most talkative and averages 21 comments per hour of arguments. That shouldn’t surprise many people as he has always been known to be a particularly vocal member of the court. Justice Thomas still hasn’t spoken since February 22, 2006. Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Breyer both average about 18 comments per case. On the other side of the spectrum, Justice Alito spoke an average of only 5 times per case. Justices Stevens, Kennedy, and Ginsburg spoke with similar frequency at 12, 11, and 10 times per argument, respectively.

This chart covers the difference between Justices’s overall speaking average and their average per individual court. I’ve highlighted the times when justices had variations of greater than 5 in either direction. I was particularly surprised to see that Ninth Circuit Cases had very little effect on justices, and, if anything, they actually spoke slightly less than usual.

When more cases start coming down, I’ll be interested to see what effect speaking frequency has on voting. Does Justice Kennedy speak more when he votes in favor of a case? Do Justices Stevens or Scalia speak more when they think a case will come down 5-4? With only 2 cases decided on merit thus far, its hard to say at this point but I’ll keep track of the decisions as they come down and post when I’ve collected enough data for some basic analysis.

You can find the data in these formats: xls, numbers, and, of course, pdf. Feel free to play with the data and let me know what conclusions you come up with!

Tags: Administrative, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, David Souter, John Paul Stevens, John Roberts, Oral Arguments, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito, Statistics, Stephen Breyer, Supreme Court

2008 Term Index

Kedar — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:00:31 +0000

I’ve started the 2008 Term Case Index and it’s included at the top of this page, or you can go here.

Tags: Administrative

Term Case Index Update

Kedar — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 07:05:33 +0000

The Term Case Index for OT07 is now representative of everything the Court has handed down thus far in the term. As always, you can find it either along the top of the page or here. When the court hands down the remaining three cases from the term, I’ll post a complete statistical breakdown similar to what I did last year with the same statistics (here.)

In the meantime, don’t forget to read up on the cases coming out tomorrow: Heller, Davis, and Morgan Stanley.

Tags: Administrative

Are You A SCOTUS Fan?

Kedar — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 04:48:26 +0000

An old friend of mine gave me a call yesterday and timidly asked if he could write for the blog. Of course I told him that he was always welcome but it reminded me to make it very clear that this website has an open invitation to anyone who is interested in the Court and happens to have an itch to write.

Anyone who cares a little too much about the SCOTUS should send me an email at kedar@dailywrit.com and we’ll set you up with an account.

Tags: Administrative

Updated Humor Statistics

Kedar — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:59:11 +0000

I’ve updated my chart with laughter references on the Court. You can find the up-to-date iteration of the full chart here and you can read about my methodology here.

Justice	Total
Roberts	13
Stevens	6
Scalia	51
Kennedy	6
Souter	10
Thomas	0
Ginsburg	1
Breyer	12
Alito	3

Tags: Administrative, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, David Souter, John Paul Stevens, John Roberts, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito, Statistics, Stephen Breyer

Help- I Need To Find An Old Book

Kedar — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 01:52:09 +0000

Ever since I located a glorious set of old books at a friends hosue, I’ve been hankering to purchase a particular antiquarian book. I’ve been on the search for a version of Giles Duncombe’s Tryals Per Pais (1655.) I’d prefer an early edition, but I found a 4th edition printed in 1702 for $850 (here). I called the bookstore and they told me they only had a 1766 print for $650 (here) but I’m disinclined to get it.

I found a first edition for $2500 (here), but unfortunately thats a bit much for a poor student like myself. I was definitely looking to spend less than $750 on this book but I would definitely go for the 1702 print at $850 if the opportunity presented itself.

Does anyone know where I could find a copy of the book? I’m also looking for an inexpensive first edition (pardon the oxymoron) of The Common Law, but that I’ve already come to cope with the fact that that is nothing but a pipe dream. An early english version of either of Burlamaqui’s two masterpeices, Principes du droit naturel (1747) and Principes du droit politique (1751), would also be greatly appreciated. Are there any other classics that I need?

Tags: Administrative, History

Updated Oral Argument Statistics

Kedar — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:32:25 +0000

I’ve updated the speaking statistics to reflect this month’s oral arguments. You can find a rough sketch of my methodology on speaking here and on laughter here. You can click on the images to see a larger version. You can find my data here (Numbers required.)

Speaking (pdf):

Laughter (pdf):

Tags: Administrative, Statistics

Updates

Kedar — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 07:07:17 +0000

I’ve updated a lot of the information on the Term Case Index in preparation for today’s cases. I expect the Supreme Court to hand down 1-2 opinions on merit this morning but its hard to say which ones specifically. My guess: Gall for sure and maybe Kimbrough.

Regardless, the opinions that we get today will be the first look into the mechanisms of a court that we will be dealing with (and blogging about) for the next 9 months. After all of the infighting that occured during OT2006, will the Justices on the Court suddenly make amends during OT2007? Will the ideological center of the Court shift even further to the right? Will Justice Thomas finally give in to his colleagues and join the stare decisis bandwagon?

Tags: Administrative, Clarence Thomas, Statistics, Supreme Court

A Look At Deluge

Kedar — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:39:23 +0000

The massive downpour of cases on Tuesday has placed the docket five cases ahead of last year. The problem, however, is that the Court despite placing many of the cases on expedited review for the January session, the December session still has only seven cases available. If the Court hears only seven cases in December, it will hear only one case per day on 5 out of 6 days or it will cancel a few days of oral arguments.

Of the cases accepted on Tuesday, twelve are on the fast track towards the January session while the other five will probably be heard in February. A session of 12 cases would require the Court to sit for more days than it has in the past, but I can’t imagine that they expedited these cases if they didn’t have a valid reason. The five cases that weren’t put on the expedited track are Quanta, Kentucky Retirement, Gomez-Perez, Ali v. Achim, and Meadwestvaco.

You can find an index with all of the cases here.

Tags: Administrative, Cert Granted, Procedure, Supreme Court

A Few Updates

Kedar — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 23:51:24 +0000

Its been a pretty slow month for Supreme Court junkies. The Court published the November argument calender and I’ve updated the Case Index accordingly.

I updated the Case Index Data as well. I’ve fallen in love with the terribly attractive ‘Numbers‘ spreadsheet application from Apple so I’ve included the data in the Numbers format as well as in the simple .xls excel format.

I’ve also started a new page with constantly updating statistics about the current term. You can find it here or through the Case Index Page. The stats are a bit sparse right now but as the Court begins to offer up substantive opinions (early-December), I’ll be updating and adding to the statistics as they become appropriate.

Tags: Administrative, Statistics

A Look Ahead At October Arguments

Kedar — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 16:14:01 +0000

When scheduling cases for oral arguments, the court tries to give precedence to the cases that were granted certiorari first. For example, if Case A was granted cert. in February and Case B was granted cert. in April, the court would generally try to hear Case A first. This allows council enough time to prepare for the case and to (hopefully) level the playing field for all cases. Since the court accepted nine cases to hear for October 2007, we would ordinarily expect that those would be cases 1-9 in order of cert. grant. You can check out a full list of the cases for OT 2007 and related information at our 2007 Term Case Index.

Well, this year there is a slight aberration that may or may not have significance. The cases, in order of cert. were (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (8), (9), (19), (20) out of the 26 that have been granted cert. Cert. was granted in the first case on February 20, 2007 and the most recent grant was Boumediene on June 29. Of the cases scheduled for hearing in October, the first seven came from February, March, and April. The last two were granted on June 11, giving those attorneys a 5-15 week disadvantage over some of their colleagues. The fairness of the Court isn’t in question because both sides of the same case are granted the same amount of time, but it seems rather odd that the court would schedule two cases so suddenly.

There isn’t a pressing need for a decision like in cases like Bush v. Gore so this scheduling decision must have been intentional. Kimbrough, the 19th case accepted by the court, revolves around the 100:1 cocaine to crack ratio. Gall, the 20th case, involves the presumption of ‘reasonableness’ as it applies to a US sentencing guidelines. Gall looks a lot like Claiborne v. US, a case that was thrown out last year after the person in question died.

Another criminal case being argued in October is Watson v. US in which the court is asked to decided whether the “use” of a firearm means its mere presence or its ‘active employment.’ Oddly enough, the court decided to postpone arguments in Logan v. US, another criminal case and the first case that it agreed to hear for OT 2007. In Logan the court is asked to decide whether or not Logan’s previous battery convictions properly constitute a ‘conviction’ under the Armed Career Criminal Act.

The other aberration in the court’s October selection is Williams v. US, a criminal case and the 8th case accepted by the court. Williams deals with the distribution of “any material or purported material in a manner that reflects the belief, or that is intended to cause another to believe, that the material or purported material is illegal child pornography.”

I’ll be honest- I don’t know for sure why the court chose to schedule the cases in this order. It could have been a procedural necessity that I’m not familiar with or it could have been something far more sinister.

Updated @ 11:35- Just minutes posting a comment on a similar post over at SCOTUSblog, I received an email from Lyle Denniston (reporter for SCOTUSblog and Adjuct Professor at Georgetown Law School):

Thanks for your comment to scotusblog. In partial answer to your query, I believe that those cases were moved up because the Court had heard the issue of below-Guidelines sentences last Term (in Claiborne), and determined that it should get right back to that inquiry early in the Term. The cases that were not listed here are being spread out over the November and December calendars, because of the low number of available cases.
Lyle Denniston

That sounds like a solid reason for the courts decision. The court moved up two sentencing cases in order to finish up some issues from the last term and chose to postpone two miscellaneous criminal cases in the process.

Tags: Administrative, Statistics, Supreme Court

Looking Ahead to OT 2007

Kedar — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 15:25:20 +0000

Courtesy of SCOTUSBlog, we now have the first Orders List of the summer and the October calendar for the new term.

I’ve updated the 2007 Term Case Index and the uploaded the new data.

Tags: Administrative, Supreme Court

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