Supreme Court Opinion Season Begins With Big Backlog

With scheduled arguments over for the term, Supreme Court justices now turn their attention to their remaining opinions, and it’s going to be a heavy lift over the next two months.

The court has worked at a historically slow pace with just 15 opinions out and 75% of their cases remaining. Those include potential blockbusters on affirmative action, voting rules, and LGBT rights.

Neal Katyal of Hogan Lovells bookended the argument schedule, appearing on the first and last days of the term. Now with his 50th argument in the books, Katyal joins Cases and Controversies to talk about his experiences before the court, and to offer his view on what’s ahead this spring.

Katyal said there are a number of potential reasons for the slow pace of opinion production, but that it’s likely not due to internal friction.

“I haven’t detected any greater animosity among the justices,” he said.

Hosts Kimberly Robinson and Greg Stohr update listeners on activities off the bench, including Justice Samuel Alito’s view of who’s behind last year’s draft abortion opinion leak, and the flurry of letters between Congress and the chief justice over high court ethics.

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