Extract from Carolyn Elefant’s article, “AI has entered the courthouse…are you ready for it?”
AI isn’t just changing how lawyers practice. Now, it’s making its way into judicial opinions, too.
In a recent study, attorney Josh Morrow ran roughly 2,250 published federal appellate opinions from 2026 through an AI-detection tool. More than 50 showed signs of AI-generated writing. As a baseline, he tested more than 300 published circuit opinions from January 2022; the detector flagged none. Morrow is careful not to claim that the results conclusively establish AI use, but they offer evidence that some federal appellate chambers may already be using AI in the drafting process.
And the study may capture only part of what is happening. AI can also be used to brainstorm, research, outline, critique drafts, or test counterarguments—uses that may leave little trace in the final opinion.
