The first party listed is the party that sought the Court's review

Ann Althouse has a post up today, "Obama Trolls Tea Party With Bumper Sticker"/"Scalia's Past Haunts Him On Birth Control" which actually has to do with a couple of Supreme Court Cases. In the comments section there is this exchange.

richlb said...

This may be a dumb question, as a good deal of the people who are on this blog are law-oriented and probably know this, but why is Sebelius listed first on the Hobby Lobby case and second on the Conestoga case? Is the government the plaintiff in one and defendant in the other?

Ann Althouse said...

@richlb When the Supreme Court takes a case, the first party listed is the party that sought the Court's review, that is, the loser in the court below.

Interesting. It is amazing how much information is conveyed, if you only know how to look for it. I have been casually reading of Supreme Court cases for some forty years and never realized that the order of the parties indicated who was seeking the review.