Justice Kennedy Says Court Should Hear About 20 More Cases a Year
Updated: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy told law students last week that the U.S. Supreme Court is not working up to capacity.
Kennedy said the court heard about 150 cases a year when he was appointed in 1988. Now, he said, the court hears about 80 cases, a lighter caseload that is due in part to Congress passing fewer laws that require review, the GW Hatchet reports.
“We should have 100 cases. Eighty does not work us to full capacity,” Kennedy said. He sees a benefit to fewer cases, according to the story. Opinions tend to “meet each other better,” he said. “They are not like two ships passing in the night.”
Kennedy focused on judicial review in his speech to students at the George Washington University law school. A report in the Daily Colonial had Kennedy saying, “I never read a brief I couldn’t go down the middle on,” but the Supreme Court Public Information Office later said the justice was misquoted.
Actually, Kennedy was making a point about lengthy and tedious briefs. He said, “I never read a brief I couldn’t put down in the middle,” according to the information office. A post at the Volokh Conspiracy agreed with the quote supplied by the information office.
Kennedy is one of three justices who are least recognized by the public, USA Today reports. A recent C-Span survey found that only 1 percent of those polled could name Kennedy and his fellow justices Stephen G. Breyer and John Paul Stevens.
Updated at 3:38 p.m. to include information supplied by the Supreme Court Information Office.
