For the past two weeks, we’ve been comparing the data for appeals from final judgments to the Court’s total caseload, addressing the notion that the Court is reluctant to get involved in cases which have not yet reached final judgment.  This time, we’re looking at the civil docket for the years 2010 through 2020.

The final-judgments share was fairly consistent from 2010 through 2018, starting out at 52.38% in 2010, dipping into the mid-forties for two years and then reaching 53.13% in 2013 and 56.52% in 2014.  The number was up and down over the next few years – 46.88% in 2015, 52.78% in 2016, 42.86% in 2017 and 51.52% in 2018.  Over the past two years however, the share of the docket has dropped sharply.  In 2019, only 41.18% of the criminal docket was from final judgments.  In 2010, only 31.03% was.

Across the entire period from 1990 to 2020, the Court has decided 1,319 civil cases.  Of those, 735 arose from final judgments in the trial court – a share of only 55.72%.

Join us back here next time as we wind up this part of our study with the data for these same years in the criminal docket.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Loco Steve (no changes).