Bonus 45: Six Problems With "Curtain-Raiser" Term Previews

It's the season for events and news stories attempting to "preview" the Supreme Court's upcoming term. But those previews tend to be both incomplete and misleading in their portrayals of the Court

Welcome back to the weekly bonus content for “One First.” Although Monday’s regular newsletter will remain free for as long as I’m able to do this, much of Thursday’s content is behind a paywall to help incentivize those who are willing and able to support the work that goes into putting this newsletter together every week. I’m grateful to those of you who are already paid subscribers, and hope that those of you who aren’t will consider a paid subscription if your circumstances permit:

One of the central distinctions between the substance of Monday’s free issues and that of Thursday’s bonus content is the personalization of the latter. To that end, I thought I’d use today’s issue to talk about (and criticize) a type of news story/event that tends to be pretty common this time of year: The “curtain-raiser” preview of the upcoming Supreme Court Term, which kicks off 11 days from now, on Monday, October 2. I understand the impetus to try to set the stage for the Court’s upcoming Term. But for six different reasons (some of which are avoidable and some of which are not), I think that these previews not only fail to provide a full picture of what’s happening at/with the Court, but they tend to reinforce incomplete or even inaccurate perceptions of the nature of the justices’ work writ large.

For those who are not paid subscribers, the next free installment of the newsletter will drop on Monday morning. For those who are, please read on.