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Supreme Court Case Load

By Chris Goddu

Here is a link to an interesting article discussing the marked decline in the caseload for the Supreme Court. As most of us know and as the article surmises, part of the reason is that:

The federal government has been losing fewer cases in the lower courts and so has less reason to appeal.

. . .

One is the decreasing number of appeals filed on behalf of the federal government by the solicitor general?s office. Over the decades, the Supreme Court has granted cases filed by the solicitor general?s office at a high rate. In the mid-1980s, the office was filing more than 50 petitions per term. But as the lower federal courts have become more conservative and the government has lost fewer cases, the number has plummeted, opening a substantial hole in the court?s docket.

As recently as the court?s 2000 term, the solicitor general filed 24 petitions, of which 17 were granted. Last term, it filed 10, of which the court granted 4. This term, the solicitor general has filed 13 petitions; the court has granted 5, denied 3 and is still considering the rest.

Full post as published by First Circuit Federal Defender Blog on December 07, 2006 (boomark / email).