As someone who looks at far too many appellate court rulings, I’ve often wondered what causes appellate judges to designate an opinion as “per curiam” — a Latin phrase meaning “by the court” — instead of identifying by name the particular judge who wrote the decision.
Perhaps with the notable exception of Bush v. Gore, the U.S. Supreme Court’s practice of using per curiam opinions is both straightforward and sensible. After a case has been orally argued, the Supreme Court ordinarily will decide the case by means of an opinion or opinions that identify their authors, except when a judgment is affirmed by an evenly divided court or the Court decides that certiorari had been improvidently granted.
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