NCJ Number
127165
Journal
Law and Society Review Volume: 24 Issue: 3 Dated: (1990) Pages: 806-836
Date Published
1990
Length
31 pages
Annotation
The composition, sources, and implications of the United States Supreme Court's discuss list are reviewed while testing two hypotheses: (1) the justices weigh the various formal and informal criteria differently across the two stages of agenda building and (2) despite differences in weighing, the justices rely on briefs amicus curiae as well as ideological predispositions to help them both to identify logical candidates for discussion and to decide whether to grant certiorari.
Abstract
Several thousand cases arrive each term at the Clerk of the United States Supreme Court. Of these thousands of cases, the Supreme Court grants a hearing to fewer than 150 disputes each term. Therefore, scholars divide the Supreme Court's decision making into two stages: (a) gate-keeping or deciding on whether to grant or to deny a hearing, and (b) resolving the merits or deciding the substance of a case. The Judiciary Act of 1925 delegated to the Supreme Court the power to refuse to decide on the merits of most of the cases on its docket. Thereafter, the docket has been almost entirely "discretionary" in nature. The justices and law clerks construct three separate agendas: the dead list, the discuss list, and the plenary docket. The choices reveal political priorities inside the Supreme Court. Appendix, 26 footnotes, 2 tables, and 58 references (Author abstract modified)