Deciding Not to Decide: Standing Doctrine, DIGs, and the Shrinking Docket
Description
Several of last Term’s high-profile decisions were not decided on the merits either because the case was dismissed for lack of standing or dismissed as improvidently granted. This panel will discuss potential reasons for that pattern and predict whether it will continue into the coming Term. Relatedly, the panelists will speculate on the reasons why the Supreme Court is deciding fewer cases than ever before and will contemplate what the consequences of a shrinking docket may be (for both the merits docket and the shadow docket)
Resources
Supreme Court’s Leisurely Pace Will Produce Pileup of Late June Rulings, Adam Liptak, The New York Times
The Supreme Court: The most powerful, least busy people in Washington, Ian Millhiser, Vox
The Least Productive Supreme Court Ever?, Jonathan H. Adler, The Volokh Conspiracy
Looking Back to Make Sense of the Court’s (Relatively) Light Workload, Adam Feldman, Empirical SCOTUS