Between 2000 and 2009, appellants’ amici wrote 141 amicus briefs while respondents’ amici wrote 90.  The margin in winning percentage between the two sides was almost exactly the same as on the civil side.  Appellants’ amici won 68.09% of the time, while respondents’ amici won 43.33% of their cases.

Leaving aside the minor players – one appellants’ amici each in property crimes, violent crimes, driving offenses and financial crimes and four in cases involving drug offenses – the leading area of law was habeas corpus, where 92.31% of appellants’ amici wound up on the winning side.  Appellants’ amici in sentencing law cases won 83.33% of the time.  Constitutional law appellants’ amici won 71.43%.  Appellants’ amici won two thirds of the time in juvenile justice issues and attorney discipline cases.  The lowest winning percentage by a significant player was for appellants’ amici in criminal procedure cases, who won only 56.52% of the time.

Respondents’ amici were on the losing side in all their cases in sentencing law, violent crimes, sexual offenses, property crimes and drug offenses cases.  The leading respondents’ amici were in juvenile justice cases with a winning percentage of 76.47%.  Respondents’ amici in criminal procedure won 60.87% of their cases.  Habeas corpus respondents’ amici won only 36.36% of the time – a considerable distance from appellants’ amici, who won 92.31%.

Join us back here later this week as we address the data for the years 2010 through 2020.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Pedro Szekeley (no changes).

This week, we’re reviewing data for civil cases between 2000 and 2009, looking at two questions: are amicus briefs supporting appellants or respondents more often on the winning side; and in which areas of law do appellants’ and respondents’ amici have the best (and worst) winning percentages?

For the years 2000 through 2009, 951 amicus briefs were filed supporting appellants and 788 were filed supporting respondents.  Appellants’ amici won 63.09% of their cases, while respondents’ amici won only 39.85%.

Leaving aside three successful appellants’ amici in wills and estates law, the leading areas for appellants were arbitration (92.59% winning percentage), tax law (90.91%), domestic relations (87.5%), environmental law (76.32%), insurance law (71.64%) and tort (71.43%).  The worst winning percentages for appellants’ amici belonged to constitutional law, where appellants’ amici won only 46.59% of their cases, and property law, where they won only 20%.

On the respondents’ side, leaving aside one respondents’ amicus in secured transactions, the highest winning percentages were property law (73.68%), insurance law (57.81%), workers compensation (53.85%) and civil procedure (51.14%).  The worst winning percentages were environmental law (9.09%), arbitration (8%) and domestic relations (7.69%).

Join us back here later this week as we review the data for the years 2010 through 2020.

Image courtesy of Flickr by 5chw4r7z (no changes).

Between 1990 and 1999, appellants’ amici filed 148 briefs and were on the winning side 73 times – a winning percentage of 49.32%.  Respondents’ amici filed 105 briefs, winning in 60 cases – a winning percentage of 57.14%.

Appellants’ amici in sentencing law cases won 82.61% of the time.  Appellants’ amici in in juvenile issues won 75% of the time.  Property law appellants’ amici won half their cases.  Appellants’ amici in constitutional law cases won 48.15% of the time.  Appellants’ amici in death penalty and violent crimes cases each had a winning percentage of 42.86%.

Respondents’ amici in death penalty cases won 80% of the time.  Civil procedure respondents won 61.36% of their cases.  Respondents’ amici in constitutional law cases won 60.87% of their cases.  Respondents’ amici in juvenile law issues won 57.14% of the time.

Join us later this week as we review the data for the years 2000 through 2009.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Tony Webster (no changes).

This week, we’re reviewing amici’s winning percentage by area of law for the years 1990 through 1999.

Overall, amici supporting appellants won 444 of 699 cases during the 1990s for a winning percentage of 63.52%.  Respondents won 230 of 547 cases for a winning percentage of 42.05%.

Amici supporting appellants in arbitration cases were undefeated – 14 wins in 14 cases.  On the other hand, arbitration amici supporting respondents lost all 14 cases.  Appellants’ amici in property law won 92.31% of their cases.  Appellants in secured transactions cases won 87.5%; workers comp appellants won 76.19%; appellants in tort law cases won 72.83% of their cases; appellants’ amici in government and administrative law cases won 70.69%.  Appellants in environmental law won 70%.  In election law, appellants won two-thirds of their cases.  Appellants’ amici in insurance law won 64.1% of the time.  Meanwhile, respondents’ amici were most successful in commercial law, winning 92.86% of the time.  Civil procedure respondents won 74.55% of their cases.  Tort respondents won only 47.42% of the time.  Respondents’ amici in employment cases won 42.22%.  Workers comp respondents won 41.18%.  Respondents’ amici in insurance cases won 41.18% of the time.

Join us back here later today as we review the criminal side of the ledger for the same years.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Lorna Mitchell (no changes).

Today, we’re wrapping up this phase of our review of the data on amicus briefs, looking at the criminal docket for the years 2010 through 2020.

For the past eleven years, constitutional law has drawn more amicus briefs than any other area of criminal law – 30 cases in all.  Criminal procedure is right behind, with 28 cases.  Sixteen sentencing cases and sixteen juvenile issues cases were next, then ten habeas cases.  In single figures were violent crimes (9 cases), death penalty (8 cases), sexual offenses (6 cases), attorney discipline (2 cases) and mental health and political offenses (1 case apiece).

The areas of criminal law which attracted the most amicus briefs were criminal procedure (57 briefs), constitutional law (51), juvenile issues (31), sentencing law (28), habeas corpus (22), attorney discipline (18) and violent crimes (14).

For most areas of law, amicus briefs were predominantly offensive (supporting the appellant and attacking the Court of Appeal decision).  This was true of criminal procedure (36 briefs for appellants, 21 for respondents), constitutional law (31 for appellants, 20 for respondents), juvenile issues (20 for appellants, 11 for respondents), sentencing law (22 for appellants, 6 for respondents), habeas corpus (16 for appellants, 6 for respondents), death penalty (8 for appellants, 0 for respondents) and political offenses (8 for appellants, 0 for respondents).  The remainder were either evenly distributed – sexual offenses (4 for appellants, 4 for respondents) or predominantly defensive – attorney discipline (1 for appellants, 17 for respondents) and violent crimes (4 for appellants, 10 for respondents).

Join us back here next week as we continue our study.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Carlos ZGZ (no changes).

Today, we’re concluding the latest stage of our analysis of the data on amicus briefs, reviewing two issues: (1) which areas of law attracted the most amicus briefs; and (2) were most amicus briefs offensive – attacking a Court of Appeal decision – or defensive – defending the Court of Appeal decision – in each area of law?  Today, we’re reviewing civil cases for the years 2010 through 2020.

Fifty-nine cases involving government and administrative law had at least one amicus brief.  Forty-eight civil procedure cases did.  Tort law and employment law were neck and neck – 42 tort law cases and 40 employment law cases.  Thirty constitutional law cases had at least one amicus brief.  Twenty environmental law cases had an amicus brief.  There were fifteen arbitration cases, fourteen commercial law, thirteen tax law and a dozen insurance law cases with at least one amicus brief.  Six workers compensation cases had an amicus brief and five domestic relations cases did.

Government and administrative law led the field for these years with a total of 245 amicus briefs.  There were 196 briefs in tort law cases, one hundred seventy-two in employment law, one hundred sixty-nine in constitutional law and one hundred fifty-seven in civil procedure cases.  Environmental law generated 120 briefs.  There were 71 arbitration briefs, 67 in tax law, 55 in insurance law, 53 involving commercial law, 23 briefs in workers compensation cases and 10 in domestic relations cases.   There was a slight predominance of offensive briefs in government/administrative law cases – 139 to 106.  There was an even bigger predominance in tort cases – 116 to 80.   Employment law cases were fairly evenly split – 93 for appellant, 79 for respondents.  Constitutional law were fairly evenly split too – 95 briefs for appellants, 74 for respondents.  There were 93 briefs for appellants and 64 for respondents in civil procedure cases.   Most amicus briefs were offensive in environmental law – 72 supporting appellants and only 48 for respondents.  Arbitration briefs were evenly split – 39 favoring appellants, 32 for respondents.  Tax were predominantly offensive – 43 briefs for appellants, only 24 for respondents.  Insurance law cases were almost exactly evenly split – 28 briefs for appellants, 27 supporting respondents.  Commercial law cases were mostly offensive – 35 briefs for appellants, only 18 for respondents.  Workers’ compensation cases were mostly offensive too – 15 briefs supporting appellants and only 8 for respondents.  Domestic relations cases were similar – 7 supporting appellants, only 3 supporting respondents.

Join us back here next time as we review the data in criminal law cases.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Sharon Hahn Darlin (no changes).

Last week, we showed that the most frequent area of criminal law for amicus briefs in California between 1990 and 1999 was criminal procedure (by a two-to-one margin).  Following crim pro were constitutional law, sentencing law, juvenile issues and death penalty cases.  So this week, we’re looking at the years 2000 through 2009.

Once again, criminal procedure led, with 33 cases drawing at least one extra brief.  But after that, we had constitutional law and juvenile issues neck-and-neck – 24 cases for con law, 23 for juvenile.  Fourteen sentencing law cases drew extra briefs and 11 habeas corpus cases did.  After that were cases involving sexual offenses (4 cases), violent crimes and property crimes (3 cases each), attorney discipline and drug offenses (2 cases each and death penalty cases (only 1).

Criminal procedure led in total number of briefs too, accounting for 69.  After that, only four more areas of law were in double figures: constitutional law (55 briefs), juvenile issues (44), habeas corpus (25 briefs) and sentencing law (17).

Of the principal areas drawing amicus briefs, criminal procedure, sentencing law and juvenile issues were lopsidedly offensive, supporting appellants.  Criminal procedure saw 46 briefs for appellants to only 23 for respondents.  Sentencing law produced 12 for appellants to 5 for respondents.  Juvenile issues produced 27 briefs for appellants, 17 for respondents.  No area of law produced a significant gap in favor of respondents’ briefs – every other area was relatively evenly balanced between briefs supporting appellants and briefs for respondents.

Join us back here next week as we review the data for the years 2010 through 2020.

Image courtesy of Flickr by GPA Photo Archive (no changes).

This week, we’re in part two of the latest phase of our amicus deep dive, reviewing two questions: (1) given that California sees more amicus briefs than any state court of last resort in the country, what areas of law are drawing the most activity; and (2) reviewing each area of law we identify, are more amicus briefs offensive, attacking a Court of Appeal decision, or defensive, supporting the decision (and the respondents)?

For the decade of the 1990s, we determined that the top five areas of civil side which saw the most amicus activity were tort, government and administrative, constitutional, civil procedure and insurance.  For the years 2000 through 2009, tort law narrowly led with 64 cases.  Sixty-one civil procedure cases produced briefs and 57 constitutional law cases did.  Forty-six employment law cases produced briefs and 45 government and administrative law cases did.  After that came insurance (31 cases), commercial law (21 cases), environmental law (13 cases), workers compensation (12 cases), domestic relations (10 cases) and tax law (9 cases).

Constitutional law led by a wide margin in overall amicus briefs with 284.  Tort law accounted for 230 briefs.  Civil procedure produced 208 briefs.  The remaining areas of law with three-digit totals of extra briefs for the decade were government and administrative law (188), employment law (171), commercial law (129) and insurance law (124).  Areas which had a significant balance of offensive amicus briefs supporting appellants were civil procedure (118-90), tort (136-94) and commercial law (88-41).  No areas had a significant balance of defensive briefs – the remaining areas were all more or less equally balanced between briefs supporting appellants and respondents.

Join us back here next time as we review the data in the criminal docket for the same years.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Denise Olson (no changes).

 

Today, we’re reviewing two issues on the criminal side of the docket – what areas of law produced the most amicus briefs and were more amicus briefs offensive – supporting the appellant and attacking the Court of Appeal decision – or defensive, supporting the respondent.  We begin with the 1990s.

Constitutional law was the leading subject for amici on the criminal docket at the Illinois Supreme Court.  But in California, things are different.  Forty-five criminal procedure cases had amicus briefs filed in the 1990s.  Four more areas were in double figures – constitutional law, 22 cases; sentencing law, 19 cases; juvenile issues, 12 cases; and death penalty, 11 cases.  Eight cases involving violent crimes saw amicus briefs, three each from attorney discipline, habeas corpus and property crimes cases, and two cases involving sexual offenses.

Most – but not all – of these areas of law were fairly evenly distributed between offensive and defensive amicus briefs.  Criminal procedure saw 51 briefs for appellants, 46 for respondents.  In constitutional law, the distribution was 27-23.  Sentencing law was one of the few lopsided totals: 23 briefs supporting appellants, 9 for respondents.  Juvenile issues produced 12 briefs supporting appellants, 14 for respondents.  Attorney discipline cases produced 13 briefs for appellants and none for respondents.  Death penalty cases were nearly evenly distributed – seven for defendants, five for prosecution.  Violent crimes cases produced seven briefs for appellants, four for respondents.  Habeas corpus were split three for appellants and four for respondents.  Sexual offenses accounted for three briefs for appellants, two for respondents.  Property crimes accounted for two appellants’ briefs, one for respondents.  Drug offenses and mental health issues cases each saw one brief (apiece) for respondents.

Join us back here next Thursday as we continue our trip through the amicus data.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Ken Lund (no changes).

This week, we’re continuing our look at the amicus brief data with two questions: (1) given how common amicus briefs are at the California Supreme Court, are briefs clustered more in cases involving certain areas of law than others; and (2) are more amicus briefs filed in California offensive – attacking an adverse Court of Appeal decision by supporting the appellant – or defensive – supporting respondent and defending a Court of Appeal decision?

In the 1990s, amicus briefs were spread among many civil areas of law.  In all seven areas saw amicus briefs in double figures.  Tort law was the most common, with amicus briefs in 76 cases.  Sixty-five government and administrative law cases had amicus briefs.  Forty-nine constitutional law cases, thirty-four civil procedure, thirty-one insurance law cases, twenty-four employment law cases and fifteen workers comp cases had amicus briefs.  Behind that were domestic relations at nine, tax law with eight cases and commercial law and environmental law at seven each.  The rest of the amicus briefs were widely scattered.

Most tort amicus briefs were offensive – 150 briefs supporting appellants, 98 for respondents.  Government and administrative law cases were more evenly distributed – 115 for appellants, 91 for respondents.  Constitutional law is almost identical – 114 for appellants, 95 for respondents.  Civil procedure is nearly even too: 61 for appellants and 55 for respondents.  Insurance law is evenly split too – 78 for appellants and 70 for respondents.

Join us back here tomorrow as we review the same questions on the criminal side of the docket.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Ray in Manila (no changes).