This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Wahlbeck, P. J. Articles by Sigelman, L. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Ghostwriters on the Court?

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

George Washington University

James F. Spriggs, II

University of California, Davis

Lee Sigelman

George Washington University

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.

American Politics Research, Vol. 30, No. 2, 166-192 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/1532673X02030002003


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?