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The incredible shrinking docket.

Article Excerpt
Last year, the Supreme Court issued only 69 decisions with signed opinions--the smallest number it has produced since before the Civil War. This year, the Court will decide even fewer cases: It did not fill its December argument calendar, and one day of scheduled arguments was canceled. In February, there were three days when the Court heard only one argument, even though the Court allots time for two cases a day. The Court certainly won't have enough cases to fill its April calendar. And in all likelihood, this term will produce about 60 decisions.

To put those numbers in perspective: In the 1980s, the Court was regularly deciding 150 cases a year. During its 1991 October term, the Court issued 117 signed opinions. Now it's deciding half that number. (1)

At his confirmation hearings in 2005, Chief Justice John Roberts said he would like to see an increase in docket size--but exactly the opposite has happened during his first two years on the Court.

This trend has enormous implications for lawyers, judges, and the nation. More major legal questions now take longer to be settled. Conflicts among the circuits and the states have to wait (and wait) to be resolved. Obtaining certiorari always has been difficult, and now it is even harder.

There is no obvious explanation for this drop-off in the Court's workload. The number of petitions for certiorari has not decreased, and this year the Court will consider more than 8,000 petitions--from which it will choose fewer than 70 for briefing and oral argument. Many of those denied petitions concern important issues that have split...

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