Grumpy Court
Printer Friendly VersionUniversity of Virginia Law Professor Michael Livermore ’06 and two Dartmouth College computer scientists will publish an article in the 2016 Washington University Law Review asserting that over time Supreme Court opinions have become longer, more layperson-friendly, and increasingly grumpy.
Using computer analysis of negative and positive language in Supreme Court opinions from 1791 to 2008, the authors gave 107 justices a “friendliness score” and determined that five current justices are among the 10 most cross: Samuel Alito, Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas.
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Related Link
“Justices’ Opinions Grow in Size, Accessibility and Testiness, Study Finds”
New York Times, 5/5/15
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