SCOTUS Chastises Congress and the Executive Branches

by run 75411


Update:  Beverly Mann adds this note lifted from comments:

The Supreme Court is rarely in session. It’s seasonal, part-time work. They usually hear argument in 10 cases a month, seven months a year. In December, they didn’t hear even that many.
There’s really sooo much that can, and should, be said about the issue of (virtually universal lack of) access to the Supreme Court, and its repercussions. Roberts’ bizarre, cutesy annual report is … oh … I don’t know …characteristically hubristic?



SCOTUS Chastises Congress and the Executive Branches

A pencil and piece of paper was all Clarence Earl Gideon needed to state his case of being denied council in court after being accused of robbery and sentenced to prison. Gideon did get a review of his case under a violation of his 6th Amendment rights to council. Today it is near to impossible for the same to occur and the probability of achieving a review by SCOTUS would be akin to a grain of sand on a Florida beach. The highest court in the nation reviews issues and issues opinions for an ~85 cases/year few of which would be of the same stature as Gideon’s. It is all about who gains access to the court. Filing a petition is no easy task and the cost of which runs ~$3,000 for a dozen or so copies. The days of Gideon are long gone.

Why would I bring this up on an Economics board? Most recently Chief Justice Roberts got into the Congressional/Executive fray and their battle over finding a solution to the hypothetical fiscal cliff.

Our country faces new challenges, including the much-publicized ‘fiscal cliff’ and the longer-term problem of a truly extravagant and burgeoning national debit,” he wrote. “No one seriously doubts that the country’s fiscal ledger has gone awry. The public properly looks to its elected officials to craft a solution.” 

Chief Justice Prods Congress to Resolve Budget Talks and Control National Debt, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/01/us/chief-justice-roberts-prods-congress-on-fiscal-matters.html?_r=0
Roberts goes on to add;

The federal judiciary makes do with a budget appropriation of about $7 billion, he wrote, “a mere two-tenths of 1 percent of the United States’ total budget of $3.7 trillion.”
“Yes,” he went on, “for each citizen’s tax dollar, only two-tenths of one penny goes toward funding the entire third branch of government!”




That is notable cost control and Roberts cites how much it costs each citizen to have access to SCOTUS. The Robert’s SCOTUS saw an ~ 64 cases last year which is down from the typical 75-85 cases seen yearly and down even further from the 1963 cases reviewed by SCOTUS. By reviewing fewer cases, the Roberts SCOTUS controls costs and further reduces the probably of another Gideon achieving review. This is not true cost control, his waxing elegantly on how SCOTUS achieves reduced costs is suspect, and comes at the expense of the citizenry. Instead of working 8 hour days (if they were hourly), SCOTUS now works 7 hour days and produces less.

Less throughput and a selective one at best.