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voting records


 
 

Harvard Law Review (Harvard Law Review Association 1887 - present) (November issues).

Jerry Goldman and Northwestern University, The Oyez Project (visited Dec. 1, 1999) http://oyez.nwu.edu (audio files available through "Cases" link).

Each year, the Harvard Law Review ("Review") compiles statistics on the Justices’ voting records during the preceding term and reports the voting statistics in various tables at the beginning of each volume. The Review’s interest in the work of the Supreme Court began with a series of articles co-authored by then Professor Felix Frankfurter [108] and "first assumed statistical form in 1925." [109] The Frankfurter articles introduced a number of charts tabulating particular characteristics of the Supreme Court’s activity. [110] These charts consequently became models for statistical tables which have "accompanied the Supreme Court Note every year since the Note was institutionalized in its present form in 1949." [111]

A recent Harvard Law Review containing voting statistics divides the statistics into three tables. [112] Table I, for example, includes information pertaining to: (a) the voting actions of the individual Justices, (b) the voting alignments, (c) percentages indicating the unanimity of the Supreme Court in the given term, and (d) the number of 5-4 decisions. Table II includes information on: (a) the final disposition of cases, (b) cases granted review each term, (c) the method of disposition, (d) the disposition of cases reviewed on writ of certiorari, and (e) the sources of cases disposed of on the merits. Table III in a recent Review volume provides information on the subject matter of dispositions with full opinions. [113] The voting records in the Review can provide a wealth of information. The voting records are published annually and represent a valuable source of primary material on the Supreme Court.

In addition to the Harvard Law Review, the Oyez Project provides information about the Justices’ voting records. [114] Generally, the Harvard Law Review presents the Justices’ voting records in statistical tables. The Oyez Project, however, presents the Justices’ voting records in an interactive format. [115] Finding a Justice’s voting records on the Oyez Web site involves several simple steps. First, select the "Justices" heading from the Oyez Web site. [116] Second, select the name of a Justice. Third, select the name of a particular case, and then move the mouse over the image of the Justices to learn how each Justice voted on that particular case.

While the Oyez Web site does not provide all the Justices’ voting records, the Oyez database is expanding. [117] The Oyez Web site provides the sitting Supreme Court Justices’ voting records, however, the Oyez Web site does not provide voting records for the most recent cases. [118]



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