Yesterday, we reviewed the Justices’ agreement rates in civil cases between 1990 and 1995 – the first in a five-part series bringing the civil data all the way up to 2018.  Today, we’re looking at the years 1996 through 2001.

Justice George, who succeeded Chief Justice Lucas as Chief on May 1, 1996 had an agreement rate with Justice Arabian of 83.33%.  Justice Baxter had an agreement rate of 72.73% with the pro tem Justices, and a rate of 38.89% with Justice Mosk.  Justice Brown’s agreement rates ranged across the board from the seventies (Justices Baxter – 77.78% and Chin – 71.65%) to the sixties (Chief Justice George – 61.36% and the pro tems – 60%), to the fifties (Justice Werdegar – 53.44%), to the forties (Justice Kennard – 44.36%) to the thirties (Justice Mosk – 34.71%).

Justice Chin’s agreement rate with Justice Baxter during these years was 76.34%.  He agreed with the pro tems in 63.64% on non-unanimous civil cases, and with Justice Mosk in 50.42%.  The new Chief Justice had an agreement rate of 76.15% with Justice Chin and was in the sixties with four more members of the Court: Justice Baxter (68.89%), Justice Mosk (64.42%), the pro tem Justices (62.5%) and Justice Kennard (61.27%).  Justice Kennard’s agreement rate with Justices Baxter and Chin was almost identical – 50.37% and 50.38%, respectively.

Chief Justice Lucas and Justice Chin had a 100% agreement rate in the retiring Chief Justice’s partial year of 1996.  Chief Justice Lucas and Justice Baxter had a rate of 75%.  The retiring Chief had an agreement rate in the sixties with his successor Chief Justice George (62.5%) and Justice Arabian (66.67%).  Justice Kennard was also in the sixties with Justice Werdegar (69.29%) and the pro tem Justices (66.67%).  Chief Justice Lucas agreed with Justice Werdegar 50% of the time, and Justices Kennard and Mosk had an agreement rate of 56.06%.  Chief Justice Lucas and Justice Kennard agreed in 42.86% of non-unanimous cases, and Chief Justice Lucas and Justice Mosk agreed in 37.5%.

Justice Werdegar’s agreement rates with the pro tem Justices during these years was 85.71%.  Chief Justice George and Justice Werdegar agreed 77.54% of the time.  Six combinations of Justices were in the sixties – Justice Mosk and the pro tems (66.67%), Justices Werdegar and Baxter (60.9%), Justices Werdegar and Chin (61.24%), Justices Werdegar and Mosk (61.72%), Justices Arabian and Baxter (66.67%) and Justices Werdegar and Arabian (66.67%).  Justice Arabian had an agreement rate of only 33.33% with two of his colleagues – Justice Kennard and Justice Mosk.

Join us back here next week as we address the next two six-year blocks on the civil docket: 2002-2007 and 2008-2013.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Don Graham (no changes).