SCOTUS Launches Into ‘Flood Season’

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg refers to it as the “flood season”: the time between the end of arguments and the end of the Supreme Court term where the justices are trying to get the remaining outstanding opinions out the door.

Back Loading: This is the fifth straight term where the court has more than 50 percent of its cases still outstanding after arguments wrapped up, with 40 of the court’s expected 69 opinions still undecided.

Furiously Drafting: “Around now drafts of opinions—and dissents—are flying between the Justices and law clerks and then between the Justices,” one law clerk described. Kimberly ...