Back-Loaded Supreme Court Enters ‘Flood Season’

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has referred to it as “flood season.”

Ginsburg was talking about the “well-known crunch” as the end of the U.S. Supreme Court term approaches, Daniel Rubens, who clerked for the 86 year-old justice during the 2013 term, said.

The high court finished oral arguments April 24. But 40 of the court’s expected 69 opinions are still outstanding, with the term likely to wrap up June 24.

That might seem like an overwhelming amount of work to get out the door in just two months. But since the mid-1970s the court has routinely had 50 percent ...