Eric McKee introduced a new metric on July 8, 2026, designed to measure the salience of Supreme Court cases. This metric weights amicus curiae briefs based on the reputation of the filers.

The reputation of an amicus filer is determined by counting how often the Supreme Court cited that filer in its opinions over the previous five terms. The metric excludes briefs filed by the United States government to prevent the solicitor general's high citation rate from skewing results.

Using this metric, United States v. Skrmetti was ranked as the most salient Supreme Court case of the 2024-25 term. This case concerned state bans on certain medical treatments for transgender minors. Smith & Wesson, which addressed whether Mexico could sue gun manufacturers, was ranked as the second most salient case.

For the same term, Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton ranked third, involving whether a Texas law requiring age verification for websites publishing sexually explicit content violated the First Amendment. Fuld v. PLO, concerning whether the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) could be sued under the Antiterrorism Act of 1990, was ranked fourth. TikTok v. Garland, regarding whether the First Amendment blocked a federal law requiring TikTok to divest from Chinese control to operate in the United States, was ranked fifth.

In the 2023-24 term, United States v. Rahimi was identified as the most salient Supreme Court case by the metric. This case dealt with whether Second Amendment rights applied to an individual subject to a domestic violence restraining order. Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, concerning the deference courts give to an executive agency's interpretation of the law it administers, was ranked second.

For the 2022-23 term, Moore v. Harper took the top spot, rejecting the independent state legislature theory regarding state legislative control over elections. 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, concerning designing websites for same-sex weddings, was ranked second.