Summary opinions & Opinion dumping

Law60 has this piece about the Federal Circuit's use of summary affirmances under its Rule 36 (Judgment of Affirmance Without Opinion) Summary Affirmances Could Undo The Fed. Circ.:

For the past two years, the Federal Circuit has relied on summary affirmances in nearly 60 percent of its cases. Thus, if the U.S. Supreme Court were to find, as recent cases argue, that the law requires the Federal Circuit to issue a written opinion in all cases, it could drastically slow down the appeals process, says Matthew Fagan of Kacvinsky Daisak Bluni PLLC. Read more »

For a historical perspective on SCOTUS's practice of dropping

a bunch of opinions just before summer vacation, see

Supreme Court “Opinion Dumping,” 1950 & Today