Last time, we showed that for the years 1990 through 1999, a divided decision at the Court of Appeal was a moderate indicator that a reversal was more likely at the Supreme Court in a civil case.  But on the criminal side, things are different – if there’s a dissent below, reversal is considerably more likely at the Supreme Court.  For the years 1990 through 1999, 84.38% of cases with a dissent below were reversed at the Supreme Court.  Only 42.28% of cases with unanimous decisions at the Court of Appeal were reversed.

The numbers were lopsided in nearly every year: 1990 (100% reversal with a dissent below to 37.97% with no dissent below), 1991 (75% to 34.92%), 1992 (100% to 40.74%), 1994 (100% to 47.5%), 1996 (100% to 43.59%), 1997 (100% to 50%), 1998 (80% to 32.5%) and 1999 (100% to 42.73%).

Join us back here later in the week as we review the data for the years 2000 through 2009.

Image courtesy of Flickr by terencechisholm (no changes).