Last time, we began our examination of the individual Justices’ writing habits with a review of how the majority opinions in civil cases were distributed from 1990 to 2018. Today, we’re looking at the average length of those opinions, Justice by Justice.
The real lesson we see in Table 749 is that although there are
For the past few weeks, we’ve been studying the average length of the Court’s opinions, looking for insights about the Court’s decision-making. This week, we’re starting a related topic: which individual Justice tends to write the longest and shortest majority opinions in civil cases? Today, step one – we trace how many majority opinions each
We’ve established already that majority opinions in cases reversing the Court of Appeal are, on average, generally longer than majority opinions affirming. Last time, we showed that for criminal cases between 1990 and 2003, the result was flipped – affirmances were nearly always longer. Today, we’re reviewing the data for the years 2004 to 2018.
Last time, we asked whether majority opinions in civil cases, on average, tend to be longer when the Court reverses than when it affirms. The answer was, in the vast majority of cases, yes. Today and tomorrow, we’re asking the same question in criminal cases. Surprisingly, the answer for criminal cases is the reverse –
Last time, we compared the length of majority opinions at the Court in civil cases for reversals and affirmances between 1990 and 2003. In this post, we’re looking at the years 2004 through 2018.
Between 2004 and 2010, in five of seven years reversals averaged longer majority opinions than affirmances. In 2004, reversals averaged 24.39
For the past few weeks, we’ve been tracking the Court’s history in terms of the length of their opinions – majority opinions, concurrences and dissents. Today, we’re looking at a related question – is there a relationship between the length of the opinion and the result – are affirmances or reversals consistently longer? One can
Yesterday, we began our review of the year-to-year average length of the Court’s opinions in criminal cases – majority opinions, concurrences and dissents, beginning with the years 1990 to 2003. Today, we’re looking at the years 2004 through 2017.
Across the entire fourteen-year period, there is some evidence that majority opinions have edged a bit
Last week, we reviewed the year-by-year data on the length of the Court’s opinions in civil cases – majorities, concurrences and dissents. We were looking at two questions: first, are opinions getting longer (or shorter) over time, and second, is there a relationship between longer dissents and longer majorities? This week, we’re looking at the
Yesterday, we reviewed the average length of the Court’s opinions – majorities, concurrences and dissents – for the years 1990 through 2003. Today, we’re bringing the numbers up to the present day.
We noted yesterday that majority opinions seemed to have gotten slightly longer on average for the years 1990 through 2003. For the years
This week, we’re turning our attention to a new subject – how has the average length of the Court’s majority, concurring and dissenting opinions in civil cases changed between 1990 and 2017? In studying the numbers, we’re looking for evidence on two points: are opinions getting consistently longer or shorter, whether because of the evolution