International Law

U.S. Study Says Party Who Gets the Most Questions from the Judges Will Lose

In an interesting article in the New York Times this week, we learn that, in cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, the party to whom the majority of the judges’ questions are directed will lose 86 percent of the time. The observation was first made and tested by a second year law student. It was then picked up by now-Chief Justice Roberts, who confirmed the results for himself. According to the article, the finding has also been substantiated by “elaborate studies from teams of professors”.

We were curious to know whether the questions of Supreme Court justices in this country are as reliable a predictor. Who better to ask than Eugene Meehan, Q.C. (who has spent some time in the S.C.C., fielding questions from the bench)?

Mr. Meehan was interested in the results of the U.S. studies, but said that he did not see that correlation before the Canadian court. Any enterprising second-year law students out there who can conduct an empirical study?

Full post as published by Cavanagh Williams on May 27, 2009 (boomark / email).