- Lurking Libertarian and mlo are correct that the docket entry Distributed for Conference of [date] is standard procedure and probably holds no significance. The clerk of the court makes an entry on the docket indicating when the court will likely consider the case. SCOTUS Case Distribution Schedule
- The docket entry of significance in these cases is instead Application referred to the Court. This entry does indicate that specific and purposeful action was taken by a justice. However, we do not know based on the entry itself why the justice(s) referred the case to the court for discussion at conference. This entry could indicate that the case was also put on the discuss list. This entry is usually not made in the docket until a decision has been made by the court.
"The Circuit Justice may act on an application alone or refer it to the full Court for consideration. The fact that an application has been referred to the full Court may not be known publicly until the Court acts on the application and the referral is noted in the Court's order."
- Lurking Libertarian, mlo, and I agree that the discuss lists are not made public. We have no way to know which cases have been put on the discuss lists.
- Of note is case #08-519 (not an NBC case) in which a motion for leave to file and amicus curiae was granted and the petition for writ of certiorari was denied at the same time. This is the same thing that happened with Berg's case, so it could be standard procedure.
None of these conclusions is meant to retract or negate the analyses from sources that I published earlier in this thread.
The end result is that the justices did refer the cases (applications) to the court for discussion at conference. Is that significant? You be the judge.
Hi John:
I’d like to hear your take on this. It counters what BuckeyeTexan says earlier, here
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2162033/posts?page=675#675
and also what you say.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2162033/posts?page=510#510
Interview, Orly Taitz: Chief Justice Roberts Calls Conference on Obama Challenge: Lightfoot v. Bowen
Monday, January 12, 2009 6:51:42 PM · 510 of 1,165
Congressman Billybob to Kevmo
Good analysis. The issue is beating all kinds of odds against it. That means a better chance of victory, but it doesn’t create or guarantee victory.
Congressman Billybob
Latest article, “The Silence of Snow”
The Declaration, the Constitution, parts of the Federalist, and America’s Owner’s Manual, here.
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2162033/posts?page=862#862
To: BuckeyeTexan; Congressman Billybob; FreeManN; Lurking Libertarian; mlo; Jim Robinson; Alamo-Girl; ..
Math Error Alert.
The odds that the fake CoLB posted by the nom de plume “hayIBaPhorgerie” has the same time of birth as zer0bama (7:24pm) would reflect 24 hours/day * 60 minutes/hour = 1440 minutes/day. = 1/1440
Now let’s process that where 1/N = 0.3. in the previous calculations. (1/N)^5 that all of these cases were forwarded for conference. 0.3^5 * 1/1440 = .00243 * 0.000694 = 0.0000016875 which is ~1 in 1.6875Million. These are not astronomical numbers, they’re actually pretty believable.
862 posted on Friday, January 16, 2009 1:19:47 AM by Kevmo ( It’s all over for this Country as a Constitutional Republic. ~Leo Donofrio, 12/14/08)
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2162033/posts?page=687#687
To: BuckeyeTexan; Congressman Billybob; FreeManN; Lurking Libertarian; mlo; Jim Robinson; Alamo-Girl; ..
It would seem that cert is denied in 70% of all cases without being discussed at conference. It would also seem that if a case is put on the “discuss list” for conference, then one of the justices thought the case worthy of discussion.
Thanks BT. That’s the first time I’ve seen this addressed. I gather that Congressman Billybob’s assessment of 1/200 is a bit too low, and the average troll who says that all cases get forwarded for this informal conference (making the odds 1:1) are too high. Having the odds at 0.3 seems about right.
Now let’s process that where 1/N = 0.3. in the previous calculations.
Using that chance, N, then it’s (1/N)^5 that all of these cases were forwarded for conference. When N was 200, look where we ended up... 0.3^5 * 1/34560 = 0.00000000703125 which is ~1 in 70Billion.