The US Supreme Court's Use of Secondary Sources

Abstract

The United States Supreme Court’s downward trend over the past half century supports Chief Justice Roberts’s statement that law-review articles are not particularly helpful for practitioners and judges. But some law-review articles are still helpful. An author aspiring to influence the Court will want to read this article’s summarizing of qualitative and quantitative data about the Court’s use of law review articles. As source material, this article analyzes the Court’s use of law-review articles, and a few other secondary sources, from the 2011–2012 term.