SCOTUS Opinions Longer, Clearer, And Grumpier

A computer analysis of about 25,000 Supreme Court opinions has found that the writings from the Court have become increasingly lengthy, more contentious, but easier to understand. The increasing wordiness is incontrovertible, New York Times reporter Adam Liptak points out: The ruling for Brown v. Board of Education logged fewer than 4,000 words in 1954, while 2010’s Citizens United ruling took 48,000 words, roughly the length of “The Great Gatsby.” As for relative testiness of the justices’ writings, an algorithm logged negative and positive words contained in Court writings and created a ranked list of 107 justices; Five out of the top 10 are serving currently.