Others say they are just as happy not to waste valuable argument time on distinctive positions unlikely to command a majority in major cases.
"I try to avoid taking a stand in major cases," said a judicial colleague.
In major cases, the Supreme Court receives stacks of friend-of-the-court filings, called amicus briefs.
In major cases, chief justices have not hesitated to choose themselves.
"The justices can't quite resist getting involved in major cases," Professor Perry said.
The court took mainly incremental steps in major cases concerning voting rights, employment discrimination, criminal procedure and campaign finance.
"This happens in major cases with enormous media attention," Weldon Kennedy, a former deputy F.B.I. director who led the investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing, said on CNN Friday.
Spurred by accusations from the whistle-blower, Frederic Whitehurst, the inspector general, Michael Bromwich, investigated the laboratory and found flawed scientific work and inaccurate testimony in major cases.
Kessler's argument will draw on his antitrust expertise, which has been honed in cases outside sports, most notably in major cases he won involving Japanese electronics companies.
They had both civil and criminal jurisdiction, and appeals in major cases could be made from their decisions to the Council of the Indies in Madrid.
