There've been several recent articles on law.com concerning last year's Supreme Court term. The one today is entitled Practioner's Views of the Supreme Court. It's a little different in that Tony Mauro is moderating a roundtable of five practioners who argued before the Court this term about how Supreme Court appellate practice has changed over the years. There's also the standard who's going to retire, what's going to happen next year stuff, too. One thing came out that I hadn't realized: 15 - 20 - 30 years ago, the Justices didn't ask many questions. Now many attorneys, myself among them, are a bit critical of Justice Thomas for not asking questions, but that used to be more the rule than the norm. Another point they make concerns the stability of the Court. These folks have been together for eight years and they know each other well. This fact, combined with the fact of more firms specializing in Supreme Court practice, means that trust and some understanding develops between the Justices and the attorneys arguing before them. It's well worth a read. I'm sure Howard will cover this, too, but I wanted to get something out before I read his commentary.
The other law.com articles are found off the High Court High Points: 2001-02 page; it has links to articles about Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice O'Connor; charts cover the term, and articles breaking down the decisions by type of case, i.e., criminal, employment, education, and business. Worth a look or a link.
9:27:42 AM 
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