Ghostwriters on the Court

A Stylistic Analysis of U.S. Supreme Court Opinion Drafts

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6179714
AutoresPaul J Wahlbeck (0000-0003-4544-4185, George Washington University), James F Spriggs (University of California, Davis), Lee Sigelman (George Washington University)
Ano2002
Volume30
Fascículo2
Páginas166-192
Data de publicação2002-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAmerican Politics Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1532-673X • E-ISSN: 1552-3373
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1532673x02030002003
OpenAlexW2036830365
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas17
Referências citadas19

A common refrain among Supreme Court watchers is that today it is law clerks who are primarily responsible for drafting the justices’opinions. We search for traces of clerical drafting—identifiable stylistic “fingerprints”—in the first drafts of the opinions that two justices, Lewis F. Powell Jr., and Thurgood Marshall, circulated during the 1985 term of the Court. These two justices relied on their clerks to a different degree: Powell’s office procedures called for him and several clerks to participate in writing each opinion, whereas Marshall reputedly delegated most writing responsibilities to his clerks. We do detect the clerks’ distinct styles in the justices’ opinions, though; as expected, the fingerprints are clearer for Marshall’s clerks than for Powell’s. We also find differences across opinion type, with the clerks’unique style most easily discernible in separate opinions, as opposed to majority opinions

Majority opinion · Political science · Sociology · Supreme court · History · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Legal Education and Practice Innovations