Supreme Court could improve on its selection of cases, law scholars argue | News | Notre Dame News | University of Notre Dame Skip To Content Skip To Navigation Skip To Search University of Notre Dame Notre Dame News Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Home Contact Search Menu Home › News › Supreme Court could improve on its selection of cases, law scholars argue Supreme Court could improve on its selection of cases, law scholars argue Published: October 29, 2015 Author: Michael O. Garvey In the early 1980s, the Supreme Court decided some 150 cases a year, nearly twice the number it annually decides these days. Legal scholars and practitioners of law have criticized, lamented and even denounced this “docket shrinkage,” but while much attention has been paid to how the Supreme Court decides its cases, far less attention has been paid to the question of which cases the Court chooses to decide — and which cases it chooses not to. That question is taken up by University of Notre Dame Law School professors Randy Kozel and Jeffrey Pojanowski in a paper titled “Discretionary Dockets,” forthcoming in the journal Constitutional Commentary. “Legally speaking,” Kozel says, “the Court has almost complete control over the cases it decides to hear. It chooses whether to review more cases or fewer cases. It chooses whether to resolve hot-button disputes or dense statutory puzzles. It chooses when to intervene and when to let the political process run. “We argue that the justices’ approach to selecting cases should have direct consequences for how they write their opinions. The Court could review lots of cases and decide them narrowly, giving us numerous data points through which we can understand the law. Or the Court could review relatively few cases but decide each one quite broadly to make sure society is getting the guidance it needs. “What the Court shouldn’t do is decide only a few cases yet still be narrow and guarded in many of its opinions. At that point, serious questions arise about whether the Court is doing enough to fill its crucial role in the legal system and in American government more broadly. We suggest that the current Court, which has been deciding a stunningly small number of cases, might well be raising these very questions.” Contact: Randy Kozel, 574-631-2727, rkozel@nd.edu Posted In: Research Home Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Related October 05, 2022 Astrophysicists find evidence for the presence of the first stars October 04, 2022 NIH awards $4 million grant to psychologists researching suicide prevention September 29, 2022 Notre Dame, Ukrainian Catholic University launch three new research grants September 27, 2022 Notre Dame, Trinity College Dublin engineers join to advance novel treatment for cystic fibrosis September 22, 2022 Climate-prepared countries are losing ground, latest ND-GAIN index shows For the Media Contact Office of Public Affairs and Communications Notre Dame News 500 Grace Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Pinterest © 2022 University of Notre Dame Search Mobile App News Events Visit Accessibility Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn