The Supreme Court has heard oral arguments in more than 50 cases this term, and the plurality of them have come from the nation’s most conservative appeals court: the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
The 5th Circuit, which covers Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, far outnumbers other lower courts when it comes to getting a case before the High Court’s justices. Of the cases that the Court has heard thus far, 10 have come from the 5th Circuit. Comparably, seven cases have come from the 2nd and 9th Circuits each and four from the 3rd, 8th and 11th Circuits each.
The 5th Circuit not only represents a higher volume of cases but is also the origin of major legal battles. The 2023-2024 cases that have come from the lower court thus far include the Supreme Court’s first Second Amendment case since its landmark ruling in State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen in 2022 and the Court’s first abortion case since it overturned Roe v. Wade that year.
While I’m all too happy to criticize SCOTUS, and I’m aghast at the judge shopping that is going on, these straight numbers don’t mean anything. We need to know proportions. If 10 cases are accepted from the 5th Circuit out of 100 that apply, that’s 10%. If 3 are heard from another circuit where 5 apply, that’s 60%. From the article, it seems judge shopping in the lower courts is the real issue.