A few decades ago, there were no page limits for U.S. Supreme Court briefs, and that brought considerable headaches for the clerks who had to read them. Also, the justices rarely, if ever, asked more than 15 questions total during oral arguments. But that changed in 1986, after Antonin Scalia joined the high court.

Special thanks to our sponsor, LawPay.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices