What the Supreme Court Did Not Do During the 1950 Term

Abstract

This article is an encore to last year's survey of the denials of certiorari over the preceding term-not so much because of the applause, but because it is thought that the by-product of the Court's work may be as significant for the national interest as the "work" itself. It is, of course, misleading to contrast the 114 cases "decided" by the Court, with the more than 1000 cases which it refused to decide. If an efficiency expert took a look at the business of our highest tribunal, he might very well come away with the notion that more time is devoted to deciding not to decide a case than to the disposition of those which get from one to four or five opinions from the Justices. But it is also true that the Court's effect on national policy cannot accurately be ap- praised without prying into that portion of its work which is buried in a statistic of the office of the Administrator.