Shrinking Supreme Court Docket

The New York Times has an interesting article on the dwindling Supreme Court Docket. When former Chief Justice Rehnquist took office in 1986 he made reducing the size of the docket a major goal. He succeeded, the number of opinions last year, 69, was the lowest since 1953. The current Chief Justice, John Roberts, has testified that more cases might help clarify the law. But so far this year the downward trend seems to be continuing. The article presents several reasons why the docket may be so light. Perhaps the most interesting one is the speculation that, in a divided court, justices are reluctant to take a case if it is likely that they will end up in the minority.