Abstract
In 1982, Jorge Carro and Andrew Brann published a study of Supreme Court citations to legislative history from 1938 to 1979 that indicated the Court had grown increasingly reliant on such history in cases calling for statutory interpretation. In this Article, Michael Koby updates the Carro and Brann piece, studying the period from 1980 to 1998, paying particular attention to the possible impact of the appointment in 1987 of Justice Antonin Scalia, a strict textualist who vigorously criticizes the reliance on legislative history. After reviewing the data, Koby concludes that Scalia's critique has indeed been a significant factor in an overall decline in the use of this interpretive tool.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | XII |
| Journal | Harvard Journal on Legislation |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| State | Published - Jun 1999 |