The Supreme Court is well-known to favor granting review in cases implicating circuit splits. When, for example, two federal appeals courts disagree over the meaning of a federal statute, the Supreme Court is likely to step in and resolve the confusion to ensure uniformity in federal law.

But the Court is also increasingly likely to let such splits languish for longer. It is taking fewer and fewer cases, year after year. And the Court dedicates much of the limited space on its docket to cases that do not involve circuit splits—cases that, say, present an opportunity to overrule precedent or that implicate patent matters.

Jurists and scholars have long debated (and often decried) the practice of forum shopping. Such debates have overlooked the effects of forum shopping on an important constituency: litigants who have little choice over forum. When forum shopping causes a sudden influx of cases—when, that is, it crowds a forum—what happens to other cases that have nowhere else to go?

In 2007, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts revitalized a little-known program to “foster communication” between the judicial and legislative branches, enabling federal appellate judges to send to Congress, without further comment, opinions “that describe possible technical problems in statutes.” In our view, such a program is sensible: The Judiciary is uniquely situated to…