On Friday, the Court requested briefing on the merits in more than twenty pending cases. Through that link, you can see the full list or subscribe to an RSS feed for updates about similar orders. (( The SCOTXblog sidebar also shows the most twenty recent requests, but a large release of orders from the Court can overfill its capacity. ))
The Court is not expected to issue any (non-emergency) orders this holiday week.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Kendall Gray // Nov 25, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Kind of frustrating that almost none of them have any of the petition briefing online to enable one to easily see what the issues are.
2 Don Cruse // Nov 29, 2009 at 7:14 am
It’s early yet. As you know, the court doesn’t (yet) ask the parties to file an electronic version until the Court makes this briefing request. The petition-stage briefs usually show up online with the merits briefs.
My understanding is that the Court would like to move to a system where all petitions are accompanied by an electronic version when first filed. But that day is not yet here.
For now, I try to get the gist of new briefing requests by looking at the COA opinions. (That’s one reason I put direct links to those opinions on most of my docket-tracking pages. The Fifth Court cases and most mandamus petitions are problems, but the others should show up automatically.)
The COA opinions aren’t a perfect way to tell what’s before the Court. The issues presented page would be much better. But, so far as I know, there is not an easy way to get access to that page for each new petition filed.