“Dominant questioners” is the generous term that Adam Feldman uses to describe the most talkative justices at oral argument. As of Feldman’s count last week, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson had spoken 21.6% of the words spoken by justices at oral argument, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor was second at 14.2%. (A justice’s average share would of course be 11.1%.)
I’m all for active questioning. But I sure wish that the two “dominant questioners” would be much better questioners. Today’s oral argument in an immigration case (Noem v. Al Otro Lado) provides apt illustrations of what too often happens.
Early in assistant solicitor general Vivek Suri’s argument, Sotomayor makes a 276-word speech-ending-in-a-question. Surek starts to answer, but Sotomayor won’t even let him complete a sentence before she interrupts him with an 84-word rebuttal. Suri manages to interject a 12-word sentence before Sotomayor interjects another question. He’s four words into his response when she cuts him off with another 69 words.
Jackson cuts Suri off before he can say a word in response to another Sotomayor question, and she speechifies for 196 words. Suri says that he has “two reasons” to provide in answer to her “Why on earth?” question, but Jackson cuts him off before he can get to his second reason. When he starts to provide it, she cuts him off in the middle of his second sentence and uses 84 words to rebut him. When the Chief and Justice Barrett try to ask their own questions, Jackson says “can I just finish?” and goes on for another 105 words.
Jackson also had her own ill-formed pet theory that the case was somehow moot or otherwise nonjusticiable. She spoke around 1,000—yes, one thousand—words on the topic on five or so different exchanges with counsel.