Hot Bench: Speaking Time and Opinion Writing at the Federal Circuit

by Dennis Crouch

Oral argument at the Federal Circuit typically lasts 30 minutes. But the judges on the panel do not divide that time equally among themselves.  I used a sample of 1000+ Federal Circuit oral arguments and found some big differences among the judges. 

Chief Judge Kimberly Moore leads the court with a median speaking time of 4.51 minutes per argument. Judge Taranto follows closely at 4.31. At the other end of the spectrum, Judge Lourie speaks for a median of just 0.86 minutes, and the newest member, Judge Cunningham for 0.92 minutes. That is a fivefold difference between the most and least talkative members of the court.


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