Justices never explain or publish certiorari vote reasons

Evidence

Criteria for Case Selection It is difficult to determine the factors that influence the justices’ decisions to grant or deny review, because the justices neither publish nor explain their votes. The Court’s own Rule 10, “Considerations Governing Review on Certiorari,” offers some guidance (see Box 5.5), but the justices can grant review when the listed factors are absent or deny review even when they are present. To some extent the criteria used in voting on certiorari petitions may be idiosyncratic, varying from justice to justice and even from case to case. Thus, Chief Justice Earl Warren asserted that the standards governing the justices’ determinations “cannot be captured in any rule or guideline that would be meaningful.” Nonetheless, some general observations are possible. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 912

Categorization

• QUESTION: Warren’s claim that cert standards cannot be captured in a meaningful rule invites examining empirical studies of agenda-setting that have tried anyway.
• XREF: connects to: Most Supreme Court cert petitions are never examined by the justices themselves — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 907; Supreme Court certiorari votes are cast without published explanation, obscuring their criteria. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1511

Broader Connections

• Supreme Court certiorari votes are cast without published explanation, obscuring their criteria. #corroborates (0.95) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1511
• Most Supreme Court cert petitions are never examined by the justices themselves #qualifies (0.72) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 907