Some fun items about the Supreme Court.
(1) The Supreme Court’s Best Writer
Legal-writing guru Ross Guberman recently guest blogged at the Volokh Conspiracy. He’s the author of Point Made, which dissects appellate briefs from leading attorneys.
He turned his attention to the Supreme Court’s best writers.
Here’s his case for Chief Justice Roberts. And here’s his case for Justice Kagan.
They’re both great picks.
I’d also credit Justice Kagan for a basic but underrated skill: she’s a master of the topic sentence. Almost without fail, she uses each paragraph to develop a single idea that she introduces in the paragraph’s first or second sentence. A reader never has to labor to follow her position.
Who is your pick?
(2) Justice Kagan and the Court
If you don’t read the Volokh Conspiracy, you might start. In a recent interview featured there, Justice Kagan mentions that she reads it—along with SCOTUSblog and How Appealing—every day. All are great. And the entire interview is worth watching:
(3) Who Wrote the Dissent in the Health Care Case?
Did you ever wonder who wrote the unsigned dissent in the Supreme Court’s health care decision? Researchers at MIT have used “algorithmic attribution” techniques to conclude that Justices Scalia and Kennedy were the likely authors.