Error-correction on the U.S. Supreme Court: A view from the clerks' memos

Abstract

We inspected the certiorari memos written by the law clerks and used by Justice Burton during the 1946, 1951, and 1952 terms of the Vinson Court. We discovered that the most frequent reasons for granting cert were: (1) the decision of the lower court was in error, (2) the issue in the case is important, and (3) there is a conflict in the decisions of two or more courts. We also found that in two of three terms Burton was no more likely to vote to grant cert when the memo stated that the issue was important than when the memo argued that the decision of the lower court was in error. Finally, we discovered that in two of the three terms Burton was more likely to vote to grant cert and later vote to reverse when a cert memo stated that the decision of the lower court was in error than when no cert memo made this argument.