The Supreme Court of the United States, 1961-1962

T HAS COME to be a rare term of the Supreme Court when no decision of the Court attracts great popular attention and when no decision either reverses a prior holding of the Court or moves into a previously unoccupied area along the fringes of judicial space. This term was no exception. Several actions of the Court approached this and certainly at least two of the Court's decisions unqualifiedly did this. An all-time record was set by the Court in the number of cases disposed of during the term, 2,157. In the previous two terms records were also set with 1,928 cases (1960-61) and 1,822 cases (1959-60) disposed of in the respective terms. In these same years the Court also had a record number of cases remaining on the docket at the close of each term. This past term the number was 428. During this term 137 cases were argued (11 fewer than in the previous term), of which 100 were disposed of by 85 signed opinions and 21 by per curiam opinions. Sixteen cases were ordered reargued, an unusually large number. The writing of opinions was divided fairly evenly among the justices except for three understandable exceptions. Mr. Justice Black and Mr. Justice Stewart wrote twelve each, with Mr. Justice Douglas and Mr. Justice Clark close behind with eleven each, and they, in turn, closely followed by Mr. Chief Justice Warren, Mr. Justice Harlan, and Mr. Justice Brennan with ten each. Mr. Justice Frankfurter was restricted by illness in the middle of the term and wrote only four opinions. Mr. Justice Whittaker was forced by ill health to withdraw from the Court in midterm and thus wrote only two opinions. Mr. Justice Byron R. White, who succeeded Mr. Justice Whittaker, wrote three opinions in the short time he served. This year Mr. Justice Douglas lost his long-held championship in the field of dissenting opinions. For a decade, except for the 1954 term, he has held the lead in the annual posting of totals of dissenting opinions written. This year Mr. Justice Harlan wrote fourteen and Mr. Justice Douglas thirteen. Not far behind were Mr. Justice Black with eleven and Mr. Justice Clark with nine dissenting opinions. The other members trailed out with Mr. Justice Stewart (four), Mr. Chief Justice Warren and Mr. Justice Frankfurter (three each), Mr. Justice Brennan and Mr. Justice Whittaker (two each), and Mr. Justice White (one) in that order. In dissenting votes, as distinguished from dissenting opinions, Mr. Justice Harlan led the field with twenty-nine votes followed by Mr. Justice Douglas (twenty-four), Mr. Justice Black (twenty-one), Mr. Justice Clark (fifteen), Mr. Chief Justice Warren (fourteen), Mr. Justice Stewart (thirteen), Mr. Justice Frankfurter (eleven), Mr. Justice Whittaker (six), Mr. Justice Brennan (four)

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