Who will write Bilski, Black, PCAOB, McDonald, CLS, and Doe? My final predictions.

June 23rd, 2010

There are 11 cases remaining to be decided from this term. Taking a look at SCOTUS Blog statpack, I venture a few guesses who will write the remaining opinions:

November Sitting– From the November sitting, with the exception of Justice Stevens, all of the Justices have written once, and Chief Justice Roberts and Ginsburg wrote twice.

  • Bilski v. Kappos (08-964) – Because Justice Stevens has not written, I am willing to bet Justice Stevens will write Bilski.

December Sitting– From the December sitting, all of the Justices have written once, except for Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kennedy.

January Sitting– Everyone has written during the January sitting, except for Justice Thomas.

February Sitting– Justices Kennedy, Breyer, and Sotomayor wrote twice. Chief Justice Roberts, and Justices Stevens, Scalia, Thomas wrote once. Justices Ginsburg and Justice Alito have not written.

  • Skilling v. United States (08-1394)- I think Justice Scalia will write Black, Weyhrauch, and Skilling as a single opinion.
  • McDonald v. City of Chicago (08-1521) – I am sticking with my prediction that Chief Justice Roberts will write McDonald, for reasons stated in this post.

Under this scenario, Justices Ginsburg and Alito will not write during the February sitting. My guess is they will pick up big cases during the April sitting, CLS and Doe respectively.

March Sitting– Justice Stevens wrote twice, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, Alito, and Sotomayor wrote once. Justices Scalia and Thomas did not write any opinions.

April Sitting– Justices Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Breyer, Alito, and Sotomayor each wrote one opinion. Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Stevens, and Justice Ginsburg did not write any opinions.

Under this scenario here is the total breakdwon of opinions for the term:

  • Roberts- 7
  • Stevens- 7
  • Scalia- 8
  • Kennedy- 8
  • Thomas- 8
  • Ginsburg- 8
  • Breyer- 9
  • Alito- 8
  • Sotomayor- 8

Everyone has a more-or-less equal load. Unsurprisingly, the Chief and Justice Stevens, who have the ability to assign opinions when they are in the majority, have fewer assignments.