SCOTUS justices have 4 full-time clerks, and yes they absolutely check all the citations. Getting onto law review in school involves a “cite checking” test, sin

SCOTUS justices have 4 full-time clerks, and yes they absolutely check all the citations. Getting onto law review in school involves a “cite checking” test, since this is a very important task for lawyers. Also, some of the citations are routine, and are very well-known by lawyers and judges. For example, when a lawyer sees “Carolene Products footnote 4”, they don’t have to check it to know it’s about interstate commerce. In some SCOTUS opinions, 1/3 of the footnotes could be routine ones like this.