We construct the complete network of 26,681 majority opinions written by the U.S. Supreme Court and the cases that cite them from 1791 to 2005. We describe a method for using the patterns in citations within and across cases to create importance scores that identify the most legally relevant precedents in the network of Supreme Court law at any given point in time. Our measures are superior to existing network-based alternatives and, for example, offer information regarding case importance not evident in simple citation counts. We also demonstrate the validity of our measures by showing that they are strongly correlated with the future citation behavior of state courts, the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. In so doing, we show that network analysis is a viable way of measuring how central a case is to law at the Court and suggest that it can be used to measure other legal concepts.

/pdf/network-analysis-and-the-law-measuring-the-legal-importance-5eer3frb8i.pdf

Network Analysis and the Law: Measuring the Legal Importance of Precedents at the U.S. Supreme Court

We construct the complete network of 28,951 majority opinions written by the U.S. Supreme Court and the cases they cite from 1792 to 2005. We illustrate some basic properties of this network and then describe a method for creating importance scores using the data to identify the most important Court precedents at any point in time. This method yields dynamic rankings that can be used to predict the future citation behavior of state courts, the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court, and these rankings outperform several commonly used alternative measures of case importance.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID906827_code636020.pdf?abstractid=906827&mirid=1&type=2

Network Analysis and the Law: Measuring the Legal Importance of Supreme Court Precedents

Mr. Manz surveys the use of authority by the United States Supreme Court during
the October 1996 Term, comparing it to the authorities cited in the briefs
submitted to the Court. He seeks to present a broader profile of the sources of
authority cited by those involved with the appellate process, and to determine
to what extent the Court�s research locates materials not included in the briefs.

Citations in Supreme Court Opinions and Briefs: A Comparative Study

In the following Article I will develop seven ideal-typical role models for (or caricatures of) legal scholars: the Oracle Scientist, the Prophet, the Law Reformer, the Humble Clerk, the Wise Pragmatist, the Self-Reflective, and the Media Star. Ten features will be used to characterize the ideal for each model: primary audience, ideal function, perverted form, influence on the law, prestige, measure of success, time scale, use of non-legal (moral or social/economic) arguments, precondition of existence, typical countries, and famous lawyers (representing themselves or at least proposing to other legal scholars to follow that specific role model).

Seven Role Models of Legal Scholars

Ranking law reviews is not a novel initiative. Data regarding the relative value of legal periodicals was first published in 1930, in an article primarily concerned with the overall contribution of legal periodicals to the development of positive law. Since then many attempts have been made to rank American law reviews by various criteria.This Article, however, focuses not on actual rankings but on ranking theory and methodology. It offers an introductory discussion of the goals of law review rating, and the essential attributes of reliable and beneficial ranking methods, followed by a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the advantages and shortcomings of the various methods that can be used to assess the relative value of American law reviews.

The Relative Value of American Law Reviews: A Critical Appraisal of Ranking Methods

/pdf/the-citing-of-law-reviews-by-the-supreme-court-1971-1999-umnv2hrs1z.pdf

Sirico

Papers

The Citing of Law Reviews by the Supreme Court:1971-1999

CASE Management of atypical Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome in gravida with SARS-COVID-2 infection