Opinion Obervations + New Certs + Final Thoughts on This Week's Oral Arguments
Opinion Obervations + New Certs + Final Thoughts on This Week's Oral Arguments  
Podcast: SCOTUS Oral Arguments and Opinions
Published On: Mon Jan 19 2026
Description: OVERVIEWDon't miss this action packed episode. In it, we cover three things:News that the Supreme Court agreed to hear 4 new cases;News that the Supreme Court will issue opinions Stats, trends, and observations of last week's 4 opinions; andFinal thoughts on this week's oral argumentsNEW CERTIORARI GRANTSCases Added: Four new grants bring total to approximately 57 unique cases for the termGeofence Warrants Case: Constitutional challenge to warrants allowing police access to cell phone user data by specific date, time, and locationPatent Infringement Case: Intellectual property dispute involving patent protection standardsMonsanto/Roundup Case: Product liability challenge over failure to warn about cancer dangersInvestment Fund Case: Securities litigation involving pleading standards for fund underperformance claimsTerm Outlook: Current case count (57 unique cases) approaches last term's 62-63 cases, suggesting limited additional grants expectedJANUARY 20TH OPINIONS FORTHCOMINGRelease Schedule: Supreme Court plans opinion release on Monday, January 20th Coverage Plan: Detailed opinion breakdowns scheduled for Thursday or Friday depending on volume Anticipation: Multiple pending cases await resolution from previous oral argument sessionsSCOTUS OPINION TRENDS & STATISTICAL ANALYSISReversal Patterns: Current term mirrors historical 69% reversal rate3 reversals/vacates vs. 1 affirmance from first four decisionsMontana Supreme Court decision upheld; federal circuit courts overturnedVote Distributions: Early decisions show typical voting patterns2 unanimous (9-0) decisions: Barrett v. United States, Case v. Montana1 decision 7-2, 1 decision 5-43 criminal law cases, 1 standing/election caseAuthorship Patterns: Different justices authored each majority opinionRoberts, Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson wrote majoritiesGorsuch most active: 2 concurrences, 1 dissentJackson 2nd most active: 1 majority, 1 dissentJudicial Fracturing Analysis: Early emergence of fractured reasoning despite agreement on outcomesNotable example: Bost v. Illinois where Barrett and Kagan joined conclusion but rejected reasoningBarrett criticized majority's "bespoke standing rule for...