Justice Thomas Had No Majority Opinion from October Sitting, But Still Wrote More Than Any Other Justice

Allen v. Milligan was the final case to be determined from the Supreme Courtroom’s October sitting. There have been solely eight instances argued in that sitting, so solely eight justices wrote majority opinions. Justice Thomas, the senior-most justice after Chief Justice Roberts, was the one justice unnoticed.

Whereas Justice Thomas didn’t writer a majority opinion from the October sitting, he authored extra pages from that sitting than every other justice and it’s not notably shut. Justice Thomas wrote three opinions that spanned 95 pages. The subsequent most prolific justice, when it comes to web page rely, was Justice Kagan, who wrote 62 pages, adopted by Justice Alito who wrote 52 pages. The 2 latest justices—Barrett and Jackson –wrote the fewest pages from the October sitting, 13 and 23 respectively. The totals are indicated within the desk under.

Justice Kavanaugh didn’t write almost as many pages as Thomas, Kagan or Alito—solely 38 pages—however he wrote essentially the most separate opinions of any justice in instances from the October sitting. Certainly, he was the one justice to put in writing an opinion in additional than half of the instances.

There are a number of potential explanations for Justice Thomas not having a majority opinion from the October sitting, regardless of his seniority. One risk is that he anticipates having a considerable project from the November sitting, which incorporates the 2 affirmative motion instances. One other risk is that he had the bulk opinion in Allen v. Milligan and misplaced the bulk to the Chief. The extent to which Thomas responds to the Chief’s opinion in his dissent is per the concept there was numerous back-and-forth making an attempt to persuade wavering justices, as is the truth that Justice Thomas’ opinion doesn’t make a lot effort to accommodate the views of different justices (as proven by the truth that solely one of many different dissenters joins the entire opinion).

Regardless of the cause Justice Thomas didn’t have a majority from the October sitting, it has not resulted in much less writing from Justice Thomas. Certainly, measured when it comes to pages and separate writings, Justice Thomas is often one of many extra prolific justices on the Courtroom, and there is not any cause to not count on that sample to carry this time period.