The biggest names on the briefs
Empirical SCOTUS is a recurring series by Adam Feldman that looks at Supreme Court data, primarily in the form of opinions and oral arguments, to provide insights into the justices’ decision making and what we can expect from the court in the future.
In last year’s TikTok v. Garland, the Supreme Court confronted a statute threatening to ban one of America’s most pop...
The strongest version of this narrative is that Supreme Court advocacy is a highly strategic endeavor, where citation patterns reveal deeper dynamics of institutional power, methodological influence, and ideological alignment. The data shows that Chief Justice Roberts’ opinions dominate because they provide neutral, governing frameworks that both sides can invoke, while Scalia’s textualism remains a cornerstone of statutory interpretation, even posthumously. The OSG’s heavy reliance on Scalia su...