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Majority Opinion Assigner

Majority Opinion Assigner
Variable Name
Spaeth Name
Normalizations
majOpinAssigner
MOA
118 [ view ]

This variable identifies the assigner of the opinion or judgment of the Court, as the case may be. These data are drawn from the membership in the final (report vote) coalition and from the rules governing opinion assignment: If the chief justice is a member of the majority vote coalition at the conference vote, he assigns the opinion; if not, the senior associate justice who is a member of the majority at the conference vote does so. According to several scholarly studies, considerable voting shifts occur between the final conference vote (where the assignment is made) and the vote that appears in the Reports. As a result, in approximately 16 percent of the cases, a person other than the one identified by the database actually assigned the opinion.

To partially overcome this discrepancy, users may consult the expanded versions of the database, available at http://www.cas.sc.edu/poli/juri/, but which include only the Vinson, Warren, and Burger Courts, plus the 1986-1993 terms of the Rehnquist Court. Assigners in these Courts are identified by reference to the justices’ docket books.

Note: This variable relies on the Justices ID for its values. For a more detailed description of these identifiers, please visit the detail page for the Justices variable. Note that the justice normalizations changed with the SCDB_2012_01 release of the database.

Values:

1JJayJay, John (10/19/1789–06/29/1795)
2JRutledge1Rutledge, John (02/15/1790–03/05/1791)
3WCushingCushing, William (02/02/1790–09/13/1810)
4JWilsonWilson, James (10/05/1789–08/21/1798)
5JBlairBlair, John (02/02/1790–01/27/1796)
6JIredellIredell, James (05/12/1790–10/20/1799)
7TJohnsonJohnson, Thomas (09/19/1791–02/22/1793)
8WPatersonPaterson, William (03/11/1793–09/09/1806)
9JRutledge2Rutledge, John (08/12/1795–12/15/1795)
10SChaseChase, Samuel (02/04/1796–06/19/1811)
11OEllsworthEllsworth, Oliver (03/08/1796–12/15/1800)
12BWashingtonWashington, Bushrod (11/09/1798–11/26/1829)
13AMooreMoore, Alfred (04/21/1800–01/26/1804)
14JMarshallMarshall, John (02/04/1801–07/06/1835)
15WJohnsonJohnson, William (05/07/1804–08/04/1834)
16HBLivingstonLivingston, Henry (01/20/1807–03/18/1823)
17TToddTodd, Thomas (05/04/1807–02/07/1826)
18GDuvallDuvall, Gabriel (11/23/1811 – 01/14/1835 )
19JStoryStory, Joseph (02/03/1812–09/10/1845)
20SThompsonThompson, Smith (09/01/1823–12/18/1843)
21RTrimbleTrimble, Robert (06/16/1826–08/25/1828)
22JMcLeanMcLean, John (01/11/1830–04/04/1861)
23HBaldwinBaldwin, Henry (01/18/1830–04/21/1844)
24JMWayneWayne, James (01/14/1835–07/05/1867)
25RBTaneyTaney, Roger (03/28/1836–10/12/1864)
26PPBarbourBarbour, Philip (05/12/1836– 02/25/1841)
27JCatronCatron, John (05/01/1837–05/30/1865)
28JMcKinleyMcKinley, John (04/22/1837–07/19/1852)
29PVDanielDaniel, Peter (01/10/1842–05/31/1860)
30SNelsonNelson, Samuel (02/27/1845–11/28/1872)
31LWoodburyWoodbury, Levi (09/23/1845–09/04/1851)
32RCGrierGrier, Robert (08/10/1846–01/31/1870)
33BRCurtisCurtis, Benjamin (10/10/1851– 09/30/1857)
34JACampbellCampbell, John (04/11/1853–04/30/1861)
35NCliffordClifford, Nathan (01/21/1858–07/25/1881)
36NHSwayneSwayne, Noah (01/27/1862–01/24/1881)
37SFMillerMiller, Samuel (07/21/1862–10/13/1890)
38DDavisDavis, David (10/17/1862–03/04/1877)
39SJFieldField, Stephen (05/20/1863–12/01/1897)
40SPChaseChase, Salmon (12/15/1864–05/07/1873)
41WStrongStrong, William (03/14/1870–12/14/1880)
42JPBradleyBradley, Joseph (03/21/1870–01/22/1892)
43WHuntHunt, Ward (01/09/1873–01/27/1882)
44MRWaiteWaite, Morrison (03/04/1874–04/03/1888)
45JHarlan1Harlan, John (12/10/1877–10/14/1911)
46WBWoodsWoods, William (01/05/1881–05/14/1887)
47SMatthewsMatthews, Stanley (05/17/1881–03/22/1889)
48HGrayGray, Horace (01/09/1882–09/15/1902)
49SBlatchfordBlatchford, Samuel (04/03/1882–07/07/1893)
50LQLamarLamar, Lucius (01/18/1888–01/23/1893)
51MWFullerFuller, Melville (10/08/1888–07/04/1910)
52DJBrewerBrewer, David (01/06/1890–03/28/1910)
53HBBrownBrown, Henry ( 01/05/1891 – 05/28/1906 )
54GShirasShiras, George (10/10/1892–02/23/1903)
55HEJacksonJackson, Howell (03/04/1893–08/08/1895)
56EDEWhiteWhite, Edward (03/12/1894–05/19/1921)
57RWPeckhamPeckham, Rufus (01/06/1896–10/24/1909)
58JMcKennaMcKenna, Joseph (01/26/1898–01/05/1925)
59OWHolmesHolmes, Oliver (08/11/1902–01/12/1932)
60WRDayDay, William (03/02/1903–11/13/1922)
61WHMoodyMoody, William (12/17/1906–11/20/1910)
62HHLurtonLurton, Horace (01/03/1910–07/12/1914)
63CEHughes1Hughes, Charles (10/10/1910–06/10/1916)
64WVanDevanterVan Devanter, Willis (01/03/1911–06/02/1937)
65JRLamarLamar, Joseph (01/03/1911–01/02/1916)
66MPitneyPitney, Mahlon (03/18/1912–12/31/1922)
67JCMcReynoldsMcReynolds, James (10/12/1914–01/31/1941)
68LDBrandeisBrandeis, Louis (06/05/1916–02/13/1939)
69JHClarkeClarke, John (10/09/1916–09/18/1922)
70WHTaftTaft, William (07/11/1921–02/03/1930)
71GSutherlandSutherland, George (10/02/1922–01/17/1938)
72PButlerButler, Pierce (01/02/1923–11/16/1939)
73ETSanfordSanford, Edward (02/19/1923–03/08/1930)
74HFStoneStone, Harlan (03/02/1925–04/22/1946)
75CEHughes2Hughes, Charles (02/24/1930–07/01/1941)
76OJRobertsRoberts, Owen (06/02/1930–07/31/1945)
77BNCardozoCardozo, Benjamin (03/14/1932–07/09/1938)
78HLBlackBlack, Hugo (08/19/1937–09/17/1971)
79SFReedReed, Stanley (01/31/1938–02/25/1957)
80FFrankfurterFrankfurter, Felix (01/30/1939–08/28/1962)
81WODouglasDouglas, William (04/17/1939–11/12/1975)
82FMurphyMurphy, Francis (02/05/1940–07/19/1949)
83JFByrnesByrnes, James (07/08/1941–10/03/1942)
84RHJacksonJackson, Robert (07/11/1941–10/09/1954)
85WBRutledgeRutledge, Wiley (02/15/1943–09/10/1949)
86HHBurtonBurton, Harold (10/01/1945–10/13/1958)
87FMVinsonVinson, Fred (06/24/1946–09/08/1953)
88TCClarkClark, Tom (08/24/1949–06/12/1967)
89SMintonMinton, Sherman (10/12/1949–10/15/1956)
90EWarrenWarren, Earl (10/05/1953–06/23/1969)
91JHarlan2Harlan, John (03/28/1955–09/23/1971)
92WJBrennanBrennan, William (10/16/1956–07/20/1990)
93CEWhittakerWhittaker, Charles (03/25/1957–03/31/1962)
94PStewartStewart, Potter (10/14/1958–07/03/1981)
95BRWhiteWhite, Byron (04/16/1962–06/28/1993)
96AJGoldbergGoldberg, Arthur (10/01/1962–07/25/1965)
97AFortasFortas, Abe (10/04/1965–05/14/1969)
98TMarshallMarshall, Thurgood (10/02/1967–10/01/1991)
99WEBurgerBurger, Warren (06/23/1969–09/26/1986)
100HABlackmunBlackmun, Harry (06/09/1970–08/03/1994)
101LFPowellPowell, Lewis (01/07/1972–06/26/1987)
102WHRehnquistRehnquist, William (01/07/1972–09/03/2005)
103JPStevensStevens, John (12/19/1975–06/29/2010)
104SDOConnorO’Connor, Sandra (09/25/1981–01/31/2006)
105AScaliaScalia, Antonin (09/26/1986–02/13/2016)
106AMKennedyKennedy, Anthony (02/18/1988–07/31/2018)
107DHSouterSouter, David (10/09/1990–06/29/2009)
108CThomasThomas, Clarence (10/23/1991–)
109RBGinsburgGinsburg, Ruth (08/10/1993–09/18/2020)
110SGBreyerBreyer, Stephen ( 08/03/1994–06/30/2022 )
111JGRobertsRoberts, John (09/29/2005–)
112SAAlitoAlito, Samuel (01/31/2006–)
113SSotomayorSotomayor, Sonia (08/08/2009–)
114EKaganKagan, Elena (08/07/2010–)
115NMGorsuchGorsuch, Neil (04/08/2017–)
116BMKavanaughKavanaugh, Brett (10/06/2018–)
117ACBarrettBarrett, Amy (10/27/2020–)
118KBJacksonJackson, Ketanji (06/30/2022–)