Supreme Court Votes to Allow Citation to Unpublished Opinins in Federal Courts

The Supreme Court on Wednesday adopted a historic rule change that will allow lawyers to cite so-called unpublished opinions in federal courts starting next year. The justices' vote represents a major milestone in the long-running debate over unpublished opinions, the sometimes-cursory dispositions that resolve upward of 80 percent of cases in federal appeals courts. Currently, four federal circuits ban the citation of unpublished opinions outright, while six others discourage it.

Article here.

Noteworthy, but rather gross, point: 9th Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski opposed the rule change, in part because the unpublished opinions are drafted "entirely" by law clerks and staff attorneys. Judge Kozinski added, "When the people making the sausage tell you it's not safe for human consumption, it seems strange indeed to have a committee in Washington tell people to go ahead and eat it anyway."

I get Judge Kozinski's point, but comparing opinions drafted by law clerks and staff attorneys to sausage unfit for human consumption is not the analogy I would have gone for.