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What would happen if people actually read Supreme Court decisions? Would we understand our government a little better? Would we at least understand what the presidential candidates mean when they say "I'll nominate someone like Justice So-and-so?"
Unfortunately, Supreme Court Decisions are written by nine old lawyers (and their twenty-something law-clerks) that have more in common with the university president or a fortune 500 executive than the average (or the less than average) American. It shows in the written decisions. Supreme Court Decisions are long and complex (except when they are short and inscrutable).
Law is, necessarily, a complex proposition. If laws mean anything, those laws must be applied in a myriad of ways, and in a myriad of contexts. Those myriad contexts result in a lot of explaining. The Supreme Court spends most of its time explaining how the law became such a mess. The average person needs a lawyer-interpreter just to keep track.
Unfortunately, some news coverage on the Supreme Court is wrong, or worse - intentionally misleading. Lawyers who write on the Supreme Court are often writing to each other - not non-lawyers. Some non-lawyers and politicians who write about the Supreme Court are more interested in making good rhetoric than describing the principles that inform Supreme Court decisions.
This website hopes to simplify the rhetoric; follow the Justices' decisions; write about those murderers, corporations, and class actions in plain english; and pay attention to all of the Supreme Court's decisions. The Supreme Court is, after all, the third branch of the U.S. government. Isn't it important enough to make it into entertainment?
The Supreme Court is the ultimate reality show, just on paper instead of on TV. No decision goes by that doesn't matter to someone - if only the poor fool that ended up with his case in the Supreme Court! You can't get much cooler than that. So, let's follow along like a baseball fan follows the home team. What is you favorite justice writing? Which Circuit courts are going to get overturned? What principles are important to the Supreme Court these days? What will desperate attorneys quote from the decision the next time the District Court Judge asks:"And what do you have to say about that counsel?"
To entertain the masses, CLARINET.WOODWINDS.COM writes case reviews from the slip opinions of the Supreme Court. CLARINET.WOODWINDS.COM also will try to cover all of the seasons' - ok techincally - this terms' - decisions. CLARINET.WOODWINDS.COM has already pretty much given up on 2007. On to 2008! CLARINET.WOODWINDS.COM may not know who's right, but CLARINET.WOODWINDS.COM knows who lost.