Last time, we were reviewing the data on the Court’s record with Court of Appeal cases that sparked a dissent below. This week, we’re addressing the controversial topic of appellate delays – both from the grant of review to oral argument, and from argument to decision.
We report the data for the years 1993 through 2017 in Table 430 below. Because of California’s requirement that cases be decided within ninety days of oral argument, as we’ve pointed out before on the blog, nearly all of the Supreme Court’s work takes place before argument. The Table shows that lag times from grant of review to argument have been steadily increasing for civil cases since 1993, while time from argument to decision is, of course, relatively flat.
In 1993, the Court averaged 323.41 days from grant to oral argument in civil cases, and decided those cases in an average of 59.26 days. The following year, the lag time from grant to argument was 362.53 days, while the time from argument to decision was 64.57 days. In 1995, grant to argument was down slightly, to 332.75 days, while lag time from argument to decision was 69.43 days. In 1996, cases averaged 342.77 days from grant to oral argument, and 65.03 days from argument to decision. In 1997, civil cases averaged 346 days from grant to argument and 73 days from argument to decision. In 1998, cases averaged 372.98 days from grant to argument and 76.15 days from argument to decision. In 1999, the longer lag time topped 400 days for the first time – cases averaged 428.25 days from grant to argument and 72.98 days from argument to decision. In 2000, cases averaged 476.76 days from grant to argument, and 76.35 days from argument to decision.
In 2001, cases averaged 441.33 days from grant to argument and 69.95 from argument to decision. The following year, the averages were 436.69 days from grant to argument and 75.46 days from argument to decision. In 2003, cases averaged 440.11 days from grant to argument and 74.05 days from argument to decision. In 2004, cases averaged 496.6 days from grant to argument and 71.64 days from argument to decision.
In 2005, the lag time from grant of review to oral argument topped 500 days for the first time – 532.78. Cases averaged 70.02 days from argument to decision. In 2006, cases averaged 532.87 days from grant of review to argument and 67.68 days from argument to decision. In 2007, the average was 554.32 days from grant of review to argument and 70.13 from argument to decision. In 2008, cases averaged 579.08 days from grant to argument and 72.18 days from argument to decision. In 2009, cases averaged 557.73 days from grant of review to oral argument and 68.25 days from argument to decision. The following year, grant to argument was up a bit, to 562.31 days, while the lag from argument to decision dipped slightly to 64.4.
In 2011, the lag time from grant to argument dipped sharply to 461.82 days. Cases were decided on averaged 61.33 days after argument. But the improvement was short-lived. In 2012, lag time from grant of review to argument increased to 643.23 days in civil cases, and from argument to decision 69.5. In 2013, cases averaged 559.31 days from grant to argument and 69.63 from argument to decision. In 2014, cases averaged 609.43 days from grant of review to argument and 70.35 days from argument to decision. In 2015, cases averaged 616.31 days from grant of review to argument and 74.81 days from argument to decision. In 2016, civil cases averaged 674.97 days from grant to argument and 78.97 days from argument to decision. Finally last year, civil cases averaged 641.12 days from grant of review to argument and 78.81 days from argument to decision.
Join us back here tomorrow as we review the data from the criminal docket.
Image courtesy of Flickr by Laila Goubran (no changes).