SCOTUSblog steht als Abkürzung für Supreme Court of the United States Blog. Das Blog wird betrieben von der auf die Vertretung vor dem US Supreme Court spezialisierte Anwaltsfirma Goldstein, Howe & Russell. Und so stellt sich das Blog selbst vor:
SCOTUSblog is devoted to comprehensively covering the U.S. Supreme Court—without bias and according to the highest journalistic and legal ethical standards. The blog is provided as a public service and is sponsored by Goldstein, Howe & Russell, P.C.
Tom Goldstein and Amy Howe – husband and wife – founded the blog in 2002. Reporter Lyle Denniston joined a few years later. Other permanent and part-time staff members have joined over time. Significant contributions have come from other lawyers at Tom and Amy’s law firm, as well as their students at Stanford and Harvard Law Schools. Now more than twenty people work on or write for the blog.
The blog generally reports on every merits case before the Court at least three times: prior to argument; after argument; and after the decision. In certain cases, we invite the advocates to record summaries of their arguments for podcasts. The blog notes all of the non-pauper cert. petitions that seek to raise a legal question which in Tom’s view may interest the Justices; Lyle gives additional coverage to particularly significant petitions. For the merits cases and the petitions we cover, we provide access to all the briefs.
Many of the blog’s posts go beyond coverage of individual cases. Each business day, we provide a “Round-up” of what has been written about the Court. We regularly publish broader analytical pieces. Lyle also comprehensively covers litigation relating to detainees in the “war on terrorism”—a topic of recurring interest at the Court. The blog carries significant analysis of nominees to the Court. In addition, various special projects—such as our thirty days of tributes to Justice Stevens—may span several weeks. Significant books related to the Court are the subject of our “Ask the author” series. A calendar lists significant dates for activity at the Court and programs relating to it. We also regularly publish statistics relating to the Term.
Für den externen Beobachter der Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit in den USA ist das Blog so gehaltvoll, dass es einen Platz in meiner Blogroll erhält.