Abstract
The 2022 and 2023 Supreme Court terms were “blockbusters.”1 From the rousing dissents in Trump v. United States2 to the death knell of Chevron deference3 and the intense debates over the role of history in judicial decision-making encapsulated in Vidal v. Elster,4 the past several terms have provided both significant insight into decisionmaking processes at the Court and substantial change to previously settled law. Its impacts are already the subject of a slew of writing, both in legal journals and the popular press.5 Largely missing from the conversation is discussion of the high Court’s impacts on district courts. While academics extol the virtues of “percolation” of legal thought through the district courts,6 the impact of Supreme Court decisions on the lower courts is often overlooked in scholarship. Critical analysis of how the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence plays out at the district court level is especially important in the era of falling trust in the judiciary. District courts are where most people encounter the justice system. Compared to only 4,159 cases filed before the Supreme Court and 39,987 cases filed in federal courts of appeal in FY 2023, the district courts saw 339,731 filings.8 The average American is unlikely to meet, speak to, or appear before a court of appeals, but over a quarter of the U.S. population will serve on a jury. This Article will assess the ways that the Roberts Courts’ opinions increase workload at the district court level, leading to longer case disposition times, decreases in outcome predictability, and reduced individual attention that can decrease trust in the judicial system.
Recommended Citation
Currier Stoffel, Elodie O.
(2026)
"The Roberts Court and the District Court,"
University of Memphis Law Review: Vol. 55:
Iss.
4, Article 4.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/um-law-review/vol55/iss4/4