Consumer Law

According To Data Analysis, Just-Completed Supreme Court Term Most Conservative "In Living Memory"

By Brian Wolfman

The Roberts Court just completed its 5th year. According to this article by Adam Liptak in today's New York Times, "[i]n those five years, the court not only moved to the right but also became the most conservative one in living memory, based on an analysis of four sets of political science data." Perhaps some of the recent movement can be explained by Justice O'Connor's departure and the ascendancy of Justice Alito, who, according to this 2009 statistical study by William Landes and Richard Posner, is the 5th most conservative justice in history. (Chief Justice Roberts is ranked fourth most conservative, but he replaced Chief Justice Rehnquist, who ranks second most conservative.)

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on July 25, 2010 (boomark / email).