Abstract
The Supreme Court’s decision in Marks v. United States instructs lower courts interpreting plurality judgments to follow the opinion concurring on the narrowest grounds, or the opinion closest to the dissent, creating the possibility that the position of the Court may not be one favored by the median justice. While the Marks doctrine creates a problem theoretically, it is unclear how frequently these problems materialize. In this paper, we explore how frequently the Marks doctrine actually results in non-median outcomes. We conclude with thoughts about the importance of these cases and speculate about the future of the Marks doctrine.
Published Version
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