Today, we’re reviewing Justice Groban’s participation in oral arguments in criminal cases for patterns. Once again, Justice Groban is relatively closely aligned with the majority in most cases.
However, his distribution of questions between appellants and respondents is more even than it was on the civil side. When he votes with the majority to affirm, he averages 1.53 questions to respondents, 1.41 to appellants. When he votes with the majority to reverse, he averages 1.74 questions to respondents, 1.35 to appellants. And when he’s in the majority of a split decision, he still more heavily questions the respondents – 1.75 to respondents, 1.5 to appellants.
Justice Groban has been in the minority only twice in criminal cases argued since he took his seat. In one, the majority affirmed, but Justice Groban voted to reverse. There, he asked four questions of respondents, none of appellants. In the other case, the majority reversed, but Justice Groban voted to affirm in part and reverse in part. There, he asked four questions of respondents and two of appellants.
Join us back here next week as we begin work on a new issue.
Image courtesy of Pixabay by geralt (no changes).