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Law Review: Why the Supreme Court Issues Plurality Opinions

By Alliance Alert

David R. Stras and James F. Spriggs, Why the Supreme Court Issues Plurality Opinions (March 2, 2010). Minnesota Legal Studies Research Paper No. 10-11. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1562737 "In the first empirical analysis examining the occurrence of plurality decisions, the authors examine a variety of ideological, collegial, contextual, and legal factors to determine which factors are most likely to lead to plurality decisions. Drawing on data for every Supreme Court case decided between the 1953 and 2006 Terms of the Supreme Court, the results of the study are illuminating. For example, a case is more likely to result in a plurality decision if it involves an issue of constitutional interpretation with respect to a civil liberties issue and lower court conflict did not influence the decision to grant certiorari."

Full post as published by Constitutionally Correct on March 11, 2010 (boomark / email).