''SCOTUSblog'' is a law

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written by

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law professor A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the U ...

s, and law students about the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. Federal tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...

(sometimes

abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

"SCOTUS"). Formerly sponsored by

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, the site tracks cases before the Court from the

certiorari In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...

stage through the merits stage. The site

live blog A liveblog is blog posting intended to provide coverage of an ongoing event in rolling text, similar to live television or live radio. Liveblogging has increased in usage by news organizations and blogging establishments since the mid-2000s, whe ...

s as the Court announces opinions and grants cases, and sometimes has information on the Court's actions published before either the Court or any other news source does. SCOTUSblog frequently hosts symposiums with leading experts on the cases before the Court. The blog comprehensively covers all of the cases argued before the Court and maintains an archive of the briefing and other documents in each case.

History and growth

The blog's first post was published on October 1, 2002. The blog began as a means of promoting the law firm then known as Goldstein & Howe, P.C. The blog moved to its current address on February 7, 2005. In the same year, it was featured by ''

BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'' in their weekly blog recommendation. A companion

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was added in 2007, but its features were subsequently integrated into the blog itself. In June 2007 the site announced that it was about to experience its single largest daily readership at 100,000 page views per day. The increase in traffic coincided with the Supreme Court's reversal of course on June 29, 2007, when it unexpectedly announced it would hear the Guantanamo Bay detainees’ challenges to the

Military Commissions Act of 2006 The Military Commissions Act of 2006, also known as HR-6166, was an Act of Congress signed by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006. The Act's stated purpose was "to authorize trial by military commission for violations of the law of ...

. A 2008 article in the ''

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Law Review'' estimated that "before the end of the afternoon, ''SCOTUSblog'' alone had posted more information about the case than most newspapers provided even the next day." After Lyle Denniston stepped down as the blog's reporter at the Court in 2016, Amy Howe was named the blog's reporter.

Reception

A 2008 article in the ''

Law Review'' gave ''SCOTUSblog'' as an example of a successful law blog, together with Balkinization and the Volokh Conspiracy, and noted that "with growing numbers of lawyers and legal scholars commenting on breaking legal issues, the blogosphere provides more sophisticated, in-depth analysis of the law than is possible even in a long-form magazine article." Edward Adams, editor and publisher of the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...

's ''

ABA Journal The ''ABA Journal'' (since 1984, formerly ''American Bar Association Journal'', 1915–1983, evolved from '' Annual Bulletin'', 1908–1914) is a monthly legal trade magazine and the flagship publication of the American Bar Association. It is no ...

'', said that ''SCOTUSblog'' is one of the best law blogs. "It's run by lawyers and they cover the Supreme Court more intensively than any news organization does, and it does a better job, too." The site is also known for its comprehensive coverage of the nomination and confirmation process for new justices. In 2009

Paul Krugman Paul Robin Krugman ( ; born February 28, 1953) is an American economist, who is Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and a columnist for ''The New York Times''. In 2008, Krugman was t ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote of the site's coverage of the

Sonia Sotomayor Sonia Maria Sotomayor (, ; born June 25, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, and has served since ...

nomination, "Without SCOTUS log the whole debate might have been about wise Latina women and Newt ingrich/nowiki>’s Tweets from Auschwitz. Instead, we have some real information getting into the picture." During the week of the

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...

hearings at the Supreme Court in March 2012, the site had one million hits owing to its extensive coverage of the arguments in both

legalese Legal writing involves the analysis of fact patterns and presentation of arguments in documents such as legal memoranda and briefs. One form of legal writing involves drafting a balanced analysis of a legal problem or issue. Another form of leg ...

and "In

Plain English Plain English (or layman's terms) are groups of words that are to be clear and easy to know. It usually avoids the use of rare words and uncommon euphemisms to explain the subject. Plain English wording is intended to be suitable for almost anyone, ...

". ''

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'' rated the site as one of the 100 most influential blogs. The site is consistently on ''Technorati'' list of top politics blogs.

Awards

In 2010, ''SCOTUSblog'' was the recipient of the ABA's Silver Gavel award. It is the only blog to receive the award. In 2013, ''SCOTUSblog'' received the

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

for excellence in electronic media. It is the first blog to ever receive the Peabody. It also won the 2012

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...

(Sigma Delta Chi) prize for deadline reporting by an independent (non-affiliated) source for its coverage of the announcement of the Supreme Court's Affordable Care Act decision.

New media

SCOTUSblog has a

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account with over 240K followers. Katie Barlow posts regular updates there on court news and facts.

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.SCOTUSblog.com American political blogs Supreme Court of the United States American legal websites Internet properties established in 2002 2002 establishments in the United States Peabody Award winners