'The authors present a careful, creative, and wide-ranging inquiry into the causes and effects of clarity in Supreme Court opinions. Their striking findings about the conditions that lead to greater clarity have important implications for our understanding of how justices think about the writing of opinions.' Larry Baum, Ohio State University 'For generations political scientists have studied who wins and loses in front of the US Supreme Court, focusing on dispute resolution rather than opinions the justices write. In US Supreme Court Opinions and their Audiences four leading political scientists study how the justices manipulate the clarity of opinions in light of their intended audiences, including lower courts, agencies, the states, and the people. This book is a must-read for any empirical legal scholar interested in taking law seriously in positive studies of Supreme Court behavior.' Andrew Martin, University of Michigan