We’ve been reviewing the data for the average length of majority opinions during the 1990s and comparing it for correlations to the unanimity rate. In this post, we’re looking at the criminal docket. It turns out that the 1990s were a difficult time for this metric, given that the average length of majority opinions didn’t
A few posts ago, I noted that analytics research has demonstrated a correlation between the length of majority opinions and the rate of unanimous opinions – shorter opinions, more unanimity; longer opinions and less unanimity. So what happened for civil cases between 1990 and 1999?
As we noted a few posts ago, majority opinions were
Today, we’re reviewing the Supreme Court’s criminal docket during the 1990s – were total caseloads declining and was the Court writing longer opinions?
For the decade, the Court decided 523 criminal cases. The Court filed 17,588 pages of majority opinion, and average of 33.63 pages per case – half again longer than the average civil
This time, we’re measuring the length of Supreme Court review in civil cases by an alternative measure – the average number of days from the close of briefing to oral argument. One caveat – this data set runs from the close of all briefing – including amici and any supplemental briefs – to oral argument.
Turning finally to the Sixth District, according to the 2020 census, Santa Clara County was 73.17% of the population. Monterey County accounted for 16.59% of the population among the three counties contributing cases to the docket and Santa Cruz was 10.24%.
Santa Clara County had cases on the Supreme Court’s civil docket in seven of
With this post, we turn our attention to the Fifth District. Fresno (33.63%) and Kern counties (30.31%) comprise a large slice of the District’s population. Stanislaus County is 18.43%, Tulare is 15.77% and Tuolumne County is 1.85%.
Fifth District civil cases were relatively uncommon on the Court’s docket between 2010 and 2019. Fresno County had
According to the 2020 census, Sacramento County accounted for 52.94% of the population of the Third District. San Joaquin County was 26.02%. Yolo was 7.23%, Butte County was 7.07%, Shasta County had 6.08% and Plumas County was 0.66% of the District.
During the decade, Sacramento County produced 11 cases for the Supreme Court’s civil docket.
As we’ve discussed before, Los Angeles County accounts for nearly all of the population in the Second District. According to the 2020 census, the population of LA County was 10,014,009 – 86.41% of the Second District. Ventura County was 7.28%, Santa Barbara was 3.87% and San Luis Obispo accounted for 2.44%.
Nearly all of the
Alameda County remained the biggest county in the First District according to the 2020 census, accounting for 29.56% of the population in the First District. Contra Costa was next, with 20.49% of the District. San Francisco was third at 15.36% and San Mateo was right behind at 13.43%. Sonoma had 8.59%, Solano was 7.97% and
For the years 2000 through 2009, San Diego was 29.41% of the Fourth District population. Orange County had 28.6%, Riverside County was 20.81% and San Bernardino was 19.34%. Imperial County was 1.66% and Inyo County was 0.18%.
San Diego had civil cases reach the Supreme Court every year, totaling 38 for the decade. Orange County