Oral Argument Essay

During the first century of rulings within the Supreme Court, it was apparent that oral arguments had evoked a potent effect on the courts overall decision making process. Within today’s modern day society oral arguments continue to maintain their effect over the decisions of the court. There are several legal scholars who argue for the opposite effect. This effect establishes that oral arguments no longer have the same impact on the court because individual Justices have strong attitudes about personal policy preferences. However, oral arguments help Justices gather information not presented in the briefs and further aids them in utilizing those proceedings to raise questions about personal policy preferences. In addition, oral arguments serve

Oral arguments influence the questions raised by Justices, which signal their concern about the external actors’ preferences in public policy, since not all this issues are presented in amicus briefs (Johnson 30). The purpose for this is for Justices to use discretion when making court decisions, in order to avoid affecting the public policy preference of the executive branch and Congress (Johnson 47). For Justices it is important to make court decisions that would not affect the future policy preference of all external

After oral arguments, Justices have their conference discussions about the case, which serve two purposes. First, during these conferences, the Justices discuss new issues brought up during the proceedings that were not disclosed in the briefs (Johnson 84). Second, during these discussions, Justices address how external actors might react to their decisions (Johnson 85). As stated by Justice Stevens, oral arguments raise issues about policy that are not included in the briefs for the Justices to consider when making decisions (Johnson 91). This is why Justices must have all the information needed about the policy preferences of all external actors in order to set the boundaries for themselves and avoid backlash (Johnson 85). For that reason, the information that Justices learn during oral argument helps them get clarity on specific as they became known during the proceedings (Johnson 95). The majority of the issues raised during oral arguments have to do with the Justice’s the public policy preference of external actors’ policy. Other issues raised by Justices during oral arguments have to do with political policy. The reason political policy questions are raised is to avoid backlash from political actors. As a result, oral arguments help justices in their decision-making process (Johnson