Assessing facts in the Supreme Court

I thought our readers might be interested in this story by legal reporter Adam Liptak about how some facts are determined in the Supreme Court. Like any court, the Supreme Court wants to understand the facts relevant to the legal issues. It also wants to know how its decision, one way or the other, might affect the real world. But often the facts the Court wishes it knew are not in the record of the case. So, the Supreme Court sometimes looks elsewhere, including to amicus briefs, to ascertain the facts. Liptak raises concerns about that approach.