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Last week, we continued our analysis of the California Supreme Court’s death penalty docket, tracing the number of cases which the Court decides every year, the fraction of the docket that’s decided unanimously, and the frequency with which the Court reverses in part or outright. Today we turn our attention to a controversial topic: how long do death penalty appeals take?

As we noted last week, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of California, as of November 2015, the Supreme Court had approximately 340 undecided death penalty appeals pending before it, including 110 which were fully briefed but not yet set for argument, and another 128 in the process of briefing. Proposition 66 requires that absent “extraordinary and compelling” circumstances, direct appeals and the initial state habeas corpus proceedings must be completed within five years, or in other words – since the tables below and in tomorrow’s post are all measured in days – 1,825 days.

For civil and non-death criminal cases, our database measures lag time in two ways: days from the granting of the petition for review to the oral argument, and days from oral argument to decision. Since there is no petition for review in automatic death penalty appeals, we use the appointment of counsel as a proxy for the moment at which the work of the appeal can begin. For the entire seventeen year period from 2000 through the end of 2016, the average time from appointment of counsel to oral argument in death penalty appeals is 3,286.12 days – 45% more than the ceiling in Proposition 66.

Tracking that measure year by year, as shown in Table 157, demonstrates that the counsel-to-argument measurement may be slowly increasing. In 2000, the average time from appointment of counsel to argument was 2,747.2 days – just over seven and a half years. The following year it had increased to 3,379.73 days, but the average declined again in 2002 (2,889.86) and 2003 (2,672.85). The average then increased in 2004 (3,055.33) and 2005 (3,210.81) before falling to its lowest level of the entire study period in 2007, at 2,472.09 days.

For 2008, the average was up to 3,194.12 days. The next year, it was flat – 3,102.76 days. In 2010, the number was up again, to 3,472.75 days. For 2011, it fell to 2,949.96 days, but the average increased each year from 2012 to 2014 – 3,656.48 in 2012, 3,758.56 in 2013 and 3,862.52 in 2014. The average time was down a bit in 2015 to 3,598.47 days, but up sharply in 2016 to 4,496.08 days. Recent history would suggest that 2016’s number is likely an anomaly, but one thing is certain – death penalty appeals have taken far more than the 1,825 days mandated in Proposition 66 for at least a generation.

Table 157

So can we tell anything about the Court’s ultimate decision simply by looking at days a case is pending before the Court? As we saw last week, cases in which the Court overturns the death penalty are quite rare, so breaking the penalty-reversed cases into year-by-year numbers wouldn’t be especially meaningful. For the entire seventeen years, cases in which the Court overturned the penalty – whether outright reversals of the entire judgment, vacatur or partial reversals including penalty – were pending from appointment of counsel to oral argument for 3,375 days. In Table 158 below, we report the year by year data for cases in which the penalty was affirmed (both outright affirmances and partial reversals where the penalty was upheld). We see that there is no clear relationship between result and time pending from counsel to argument. For 2000, the Court affirmed in all its death cases, so the measure is 2,747.2 days. In 2001, affirmances were pending 3,191.2 days. The number dropped for the next three years, to 2,942.15 in 2002, 2,659.44 in 2003 and 2,012.11 in 2004 (the lowest number in the period). In 2005, penalty affirmed cases were pending an average of 3,210.81 days, and in 2006, the lag was nearly that: 3,184.48 days. There was a one-year drop in 2007 to 2,452.14 days, but it was back up to trend in the next three years: 2008 (3,262.54), 2009 (3,186.78) and 2010 (3,472.75). In 2011, the average time for affirmances was 2,927.76 days. It was up significantly in 2012, to 3,765.19 days, and in 2013, to 3,758.56 days. The average was up slightly in 2014, to 3,845.38 days, down again in 2015 to 3,569.57 days, and then up substantially in 2016, to 4,571.67 days.

Table 158

Join us back here tomorrow as we review the days-pending data measured from oral argument to decision in the Court’s death penalty cases.

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Yesterday, we began our review of the California Supreme Court’s death penalty docket, looking at both the number of cases the Court decides each year, and its usual unanimity rate.  Today, we turn our attention to a new question: what’s the reversal rate?

We must begin by defining our terms.  As we showed earlier, death penalty appeals almost inevitably raise far more issues than other cases, resulting in majority opinions that are anywhere from 50 to 150 pages or more long.  So what does “reversed” mean for purposes of calculating a reversal rate?  With these defendants often being convicted of multiple crimes, there are many things which could trigger a partial reversal while still leaving the death penalty in place.  So we divide the cases into four different possible results: outright affirmances; partial reversals, but with the death penalty affirmed; partial reversals with the death penalty reversed; outright reversals and vacatur.

For the entire period 2000 through 2015, the Court affirmed outright in 81.26% of all death penalty cases.  Another 10.27% were partially reversed, but the death penalty was left in place.  The Court reversed in part and overturned the death penalty in 5.14% of the cases it heard during the sixteen year period.  Finally, the Court reversed or vacated the judgment in another 3.32% of cases.

We see in Table 156 below that the Court has become markedly more likely to find something to reverse in a death penalty case over the past two years.  In 2000 and 2001, the Court affirmed outright in twenty-five of twenty-six death penalty appeals, reversing in part and overturning the penalty in one.  The affirmance rate took a dip in 2002 to its lowest level until 2014, as the Court affirmed outright in 69.23% of cases.  The next year was about the same: the Court affirmed outright 73.68% of the time, reversed in part reversing the penalty in 5.26%, and reversed or vacated in another 15.79%.  After a two year return to its earlier form, with the Court affirming outright in 90.48% of cases in 2004 and 96% in 2005, the affirmance rate dropped below 80% for the next four years.  In 2006, the Court reversed in part reversing the penalty in 5.26% of cases, and reversed outright or vacated in another 5.26%.  In 2009, the Court reversed in part reversing the penalty in 3.85% of cases and reversed outright or vacated in another 7.69%.

The numbers shifted again in 2010 and 2011.  In 2010, the Court affirmed outright in 95.83% of the death penalty cases it decided.  The next year, it affirmed in 88.46%, reversing outright or vacating in only 3.85%.  In 2012, the Court reversed the death penalty in 16% of the cases it heard, evenly divided between partial reversals reversing the penalty and outright reversals.  That year, the Court affirmed outright in 76% of its cases.  But in 2013, the Court affirmed outright in 94.44% of death penalty appeals.

As we mentioned at the outset, things have definitely shifted on the death penalty docket over the past two years.  For 2014, the Court affirmed outright in only 56.52% of cases.  The Court reversed in part reversing the penalty in 13.04% of cases that year, and reversed outright or vacated in 4.35%.  Last year, the Court affirmed outright in 58.82% of its death penalty decisions.  It reversed in part reversing the penalty in 17.65%.

Table 156

Join us back here next Thursday as we continue our review of the Court’s death penalty docket.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Harold Litwiler (no changes).

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Last week, we completed our look at the Court’s majority opinions across the spectrum from civil to non-death criminal cases to the Court’s docket of mandatory death penalty appeals.  With the constitutional challenge to the Proposition 66 death penalty referendum still pending before the California Supreme Court, let’s take a closer look at the Court’s death penalty appeals.

The Court has for the past sixteen years decided between one dozen and two dozen death penalty appeals a year – ranging from a low of 11 in 2001 to a high of 26 in 2008, 2009 and 2011.  According to the Legislative Analyst’s office, over 900 people have received death sentences in California since the current death penalty statute was enacted in 1978.  According to a report on Proposition 66 from the American Civil Liberties Union of California, as of November 2015, the Supreme Court had approximately 340 undecided death penalty appeals, including 110 which were fully briefed but not yet set for argument and another 128 which had appointed counsel and were in the process of briefing.  According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, as of September 2015, 57 defendants were awaiting the appointment of counsel in their direct appeals.  Proposition 66 requires that absent “extraordinary and compelling” circumstances, direct appeals and the initial state habeas corpus proceedings be completed within five years.

As we see in Table 155 below, the Court’s unanimity rate in death penalty appeals has in nearly every year been significantly higher than its unanimity rate elsewhere on the docket.  In 2000, unanimity reached its highest rate of the period, as the Court decided 92.31% of its death penalty appeals unanimously.  That figure dropped to 90.91% in 2001 and 69.23% in 2002 – the lowest figure of the period – before increasing to a trend value of between 80 and 90%.  In 2004, 90.48% of the cases were unanimous.  Between 2005 and 2009, between eighty and ninety percent were.  In 2010, 91.67% were unanimous.  That figure took a one-year dip in 2011 to 73.08%, but in 2012, it was back up to 92%.  Unanimity was at 83.33% in 2013 and 82.61% in 2014 before falling to 76.47% in 2015.

Table 155

Join us back here tomorrow as we look at the Court’s reversal rate in death penalty appeals.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Adam Moss (no changes).

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Yesterday, we looked at the distribution and average length of the Court’s majority opinions in criminal cases not involving the death penalty between 2008 and 2015.  Today, we address the distribution of the Court’s most recent death penalty appeals.

Between 2008 and 2015, Justice Chin wrote the most majority opinions in death penalty cases with 31.  Justice Corrigan wrote 30, Justice Werdegar wrote 24 and Justice Baxter 23.

For the year 2008, Justice Baxter led with five majority opinions.  Chief Justice George and Justices Kennard and Chin wrote four apiece, and Justices Corrigan, Werdegar and Moreno wrote three each.  For 2009, Justice Moreno led with six majorities.  Chief Justice George and Justice Baxter wrote five, Justice Corrigan four, and Justice Chin wrote two.  For 2010, Chief Justice George and Justice Corrigan led with five majority opinions each.  Justices Werdegar and Moreno wrote four apiece, and Justices Kennard, Chin and Baxter wrote two each.  For 2011, Justice Corrigan led with seven majorities.  Justice Chin was next with six, Justice Werdegar had four, and Justices Baxter and Moreno wrote three each.  For 2012, Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye led with seven majority opinions in death penalty appeals.  Justice Chin wrote five and Justices Kennard and Werdegar wrote four each.  For 2013, the Chief Justice once again led with five majority opinions.  Justices Chin and Baxter wrote four each, and Justice Liu wrote two.  For 2014, Justice Corrigan led with five majority opinions.  Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye and Justice Chin wrote four apiece, and Justices Werdegar and Baxter wrote three each.  For 2015, Justices Werdegar and Chin led the Court with four majorities each.  Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye and Justice Corrigan each wrote three, and Justice Liu wrote two.

Table 153

The average length of the Justices’ majority opinions each year is reported below in Table 154.  The data shows no consistent pattern of Justices writing the longest death penalty opinions on the Court, but one of only three Justices had the shortest average each year in the period: Justices Chin, Corrigan and Kennard.  But because the numbers at times show substantial shifts – the result of the small year-by-year data set – these same three Justices were at other times among the highest on the Court in terms of length.

For 2008, Chief Justice George averaged 101.75 pages per death penalty majority opinion.  Justice Kennard was next at 85.5 pages.  Justice Moreno averaged 77.33 pages.  The shortest averages were Justice Corrigan at 60.67 and Justice Chin at 55.75.  For 2009, Justice Kennard led, averaging 110 pages.  Chief Justice George averaged 91.6 pages and Justice Baxter averaged 71.4 pages.  Justice Chin averaged 54.5 pages and Justice Corrigan 45.25.  For 2010, Justice Chin led, averaging 117.5 pages.  Chief Justice George averaged 97.8 pages and Justice Baxter averaged 97 pages.  Justices Corrigan and Kennard had the smallest averages at 71.2 and 61.5.  For 2011, Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye led with an average majority opinion of 139.5 pages (the result of a single 198 page opinion).  Justice Baxter was next at 80.67 pages.  That year, three Justices were under sixty pages – Justices Moreno (59.67), Kennard (56) and Chin (52.83).  For 2012, Justice Baxter led, writing a 161 page majority opinion.  Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye and Justices Werdegar and Chin were next at 88.29, 76.5 and 72.6, respectively.  Justice Kennard had the shortest average at 48 pages.

In 2013, Justices Liu and Werdegar were both over 100 pages – 111 and 106, to be exact.  The Chief Justice and Justice Baxter were close behind at 94.8 and 93.  Justice Corrigan, on the other hand, averaged only 45 pages.  For 2014, Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye and Justice Liu were both in three digits, averaging 128 pages and 105.5.  Justice Baxter averaged 90.67.  The shortest death penalty majorities were by Justice Werdegar (56 pages) and Justice Kennard (50.5).  Last year, majority opinions in death penalty appeals were a bit shorter than recent trends.  Only two Justices averaged more than seventy pages – Justice Liu at 79.5 and Justice Werdegar at 71.5.  The shortest opinions on the Court were by Justice Corrigan (53.33 pages) and Justice Chin (52.5 pages).

Table 154

Join us back here next week as we turn our attention to a new aspect of the Court’s decision making.

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For the past few weeks, we’ve been analyzing the distribution of majority opinions among the Justices in civil, criminal and death penalty cases, and which Justices tend to write the longest (and shortest) opinions.  Today, we turn our attention to the Court’s criminal cases between 2008 and 2015.  Once again, we omit the death penalty appeals from this dataset to avoid skewing the results.

Over the past eight years, the most frequent author of non-death criminal majority opinions has been Justice Corrigan with 50.  Justice Chin has written 45 opinions, Justice Baxter 44, Justice Werdegar 39 and Justice Kennard 33.

In 2008, Chief Justice George led the Court with nine majority opinions.  Justices Corrigan and Werdegar were next with seven each, followed by Justice Baxter with six and Justice Kennard with four.  In 2009, Justice Corrigan led with nine majorities, followed by Justices Werdegar and Chin with six apiece, Justice Kennard with five and Chief Justice George and Justice Baxter with four each.  In 2010, Justice Baxter led with ten majority opinions.  Chief Justice George wrote nine, Justice Corrigan seven and Justice Kennard six.  In 2011, Justices Kennard and Chin led, each writing six majority opinions in non-death criminal cases.  Justice Corrigan was next with five.  In 2012, Justice Baxter led, writing thirteen criminal majority opinions (the busiest year anyone had during the period).  Justice Corrigan wasn’t far behind with 11, and Justices Kennard and Chin wrote seven apiece.  In 2013, Justice Chin led with seven majorities, followed by Justice Corrigan with six and Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye and Justice Werdegar with five each.  In 2014, the majority opinions were almost evenly distributed – the Chief Justice and Justice Chin wrote five apiece, but Justices Corrigan, Kennard, Werdegar and Baxter wrote four each.  Last year, Justices Werdegar and Liu led, each writing five majority opinions.  The Chief Justice and Justice Chin wrote four each, and Justice Baxter wrote three.

Table 152A

The Chief Justices and Justice Baxter have most frequently averaged the longest majority opinions in criminal non-death cases.  Justices Kennard, Chin and Werdegar have most frequently written the shortest average opinions.

For 2008, Chief Justice George averaged 29.22 pages per majority opinion.  Justice Werdegar was next at 26.29 pages, followed by Justice Moreno at 20.5 and Justice Chin at 20.4.  The shortest average majority opinion that year was Justice Kennard, who averaged 15.75 pages.  For 2009, only three Justices averaged over twenty pages per majority opinion – Justice Chin (22 pages), Justice Baxter (21.5) and Chief Justice George (20.25).  Justices Corrigan and Kennard wrote the shortest opinions that year, averaging 15.56 and 14.2 pages, respectively.  For 2010, Chief Justice George averaged 29.44 pages, followed by Justice Werdegar at 28 pages and Justice Moreno at 24.  Once again, Justices Corrigan and Justice Kennard were shortest at 13.86 and 11.67.  The following year, Justice Corrigan had the highest per-opinion average at 30.2 pages.  Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye was second t 23.67 pages.  The shortest opinions were Justice Chin at 15.83 pages and Justice Werdegar at 11.

For 2012, Justice Werdegar averaged 34.8 pages in criminal non-death majority opinions.  The Chief Justice was next at 28.25 pages, followed by Justice Corrigan at 23.55 pages.  Justices Chin and Liu wrote the shortest opinions, at 14.14 and 12.25 pages, respectively.  For 2013, Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye led at 43.4 pages, followed by Justice Baxter at 24.67 pages.  The shortest opinions in 2013 were Justice Kennard at 17 pages and Justice Chin at 16.  For 2014, Justice Baxter led, averaging 30 pages per majority opinion.  Justice Liu was next, averaging 28 pages, followed by Justice Kennard at 27.25.  The shortest opinions were Justice Corrigan (15.5) and Justices Werdegar and Chin (14 pages each).  Last year, Justice Baxter averaged the longest opinions at 29.33 pages.  Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye averaged 28.5, Justice Liu averaged 24.6 and Justice Corrigan averaged 23 pages.  With average length up slightly last year, only two Justices averaged less than 20 pages – Justice Chin at 19.25 and Justice Werdegar at 17.6.

Table 152A

Join us back here tomorrow as we take a look at the Court’s majority opinions in death penalty appeals for the same period.

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

 

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Yesterday, we continued our analysis of the Court’s majority opinions, reviewing which Justices wrote most and least often for the Court in non-death criminal matters, and which tended to write the longest and shortest majority opinions for the years 2000-2007.  Today, we turn our attention to the Court’s majority opinions in civil cases between 2008 and 2015.

For the entire period, Justice Werdegar wrote the most majority opinions in civil cases at 50.  Justice Chin wrote 41 majority opinions.  Justice Kennard wrote 34, Justice Baxter 33, Justice Corrigan 31, Justice Liu 22 and Justice Moreno 20.

For 2008, Justice Moreno led with eight majority opinions in civil cases.  Justices Werdegar and Chin were next with seven apiece, followed by Justice Kennard with six.  For 2009, Justices Kennard and Moreno led with nine majority opinions.  Justice Chin wrote eight, and Justices Werdegar and Baxter wrote six each.  For 2010, Justice Chin led, writing eight majority opinions in civil cases.  Chief Justice George and Justices Kennard, Werdegar and Baxter were next with six majorities apiece.  For 2011, Justice Werdegar led with nine majority opinions.  Justice Baxter wrote seven, Justice Chin wrote six and Justice Corrigan wrote five.  For 2012, Justice Liu led with six majority opinions.  Justice Werdegar wrote five, Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye and Justice Kennard wrote four each, and Justice Chin wrote three.  For 2013, Justice Liu led with eight majority opinions in civil cases.  Justices Werdegar and Corrigan tied with five apiece, and the Chief Justice and Justices Chin and Baxter wrote four each.  For 2014, Justice Corrigan led with six majority opinions in civil cases. Justices Werdegar and Liu wrote four apiece, and Justices Kennard and Baxter wrote three each.  For 2015, Justice Werdegar led with eight majority opinions in civil cases.  Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye was next with seven, followed by Justice Corrigan with six and Justices Chin and Liu with four each.

Table 149

The data on mean length of majority opinions is somewhat skewed, since the Chief Justice has written the majority opinion for a number of high-profile cases heard by the court in the past eight years.   Chief Justice George wrote the longest average civil majorities from 2008 to 2010, and Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye has led in average length in four of the past five years.  For 2008, Justices Moreno and Baxter were second and third behind the Chief Justice, averaging 26 and 25.8 pages.  Justices Chin and Corrigan averaged the shortest opinions, but not by a wide margin – 22.29 pages and 20.25 pages.  For 2009, Justices Baxter and Moreno were second behind the Chief Justice, averaging 22.67 and 22.11 pages per majority opinion.  The shortest average opinions on the Court were by Justice Kennard (17.67 pages and Justice Corrigan (12 pages).  For 2010, Justice Werdegar was second, with an average majority opinion of 30.17 pages.  Justice Corrigan was second at 27 pages, followed by Justice Baxter at 26.5 pages.  The shortest average opinions were by Justice Moreno at 19.44 pages and Justice Kennard at 17.67 pages.

For 2011, Justice Werdegar was second behind Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye in average majority at 28.78 pages.  Justice Moreno averaged 26 pages, and Justice Baxter 25.14 pages.  Justices Kennard and Chin wrote the shortest opinions in 2011, at 17.75 pages and 11.5 pages.  For 2012, Justice Werdegar was second, averaging 29.2 pages, followed by Justices Chin (27.33) and Corrigan (26).  2013 was the only year in the period in which the Chief Justice did not average the longest majority opinions: Justice Liu averaged 35.13 pages.  The Chief Justice was right behind, averaging 34.5 pages.  Justices Werdegar and Baxter were next, at 26 and 23.5 pages. Justices Chin and Corrigan wrote the shortest average opinions, at 19.75 pages and 19.2 pages.  For 2014, Justice Baxter was second behind the Chief Justice with an average majority opinion of 33.33 pages.  Justice Liu averaged 28.25 pages and Justice Corrigan averaged 24 pages.  Justice Chin wrote the shortest civil opinions for the year at 18 pages.  Last year, several Justices averaged shorter opinions than their trends.  Justice Chin was second behind the Chief Justice, with an average of 31.25 pages.  Justice Liu averaged 24.25 pages, and Justice Cuellar 23, but Justices Corrigan, Werdegar and Kruger all averaged less than 20 pages per majority opinion.

Table 150

Join us back here next Thursday as we turn our attention to the Court’s death penalty and other criminal majority opinions for the years 2008 through 2015.

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Last week, we looked at the Justices’ majority opinions in civil and death penalty appeals between 2000 and 2007.  Today, we turn our attention to majority opinions in criminal cases.  Because death penalty majorities are nearly always considerably longer than non-death cases, we limit this part of our analysis to criminal cases not involving the death penalty to avoid biasing our results.

For the entire period, Justice Chin led the Court, writing 68 majority opinions in non-death criminal cases.  Justice Baxter was next with 59 majorities, followed by Chief Justice George with 56, Justice Kennard with 43, Justice Brown with 42, Justice Werdegar with 29, Justice Moreno with 20, Justice Corrigan with 9 and Justice Mosk with 5 criminal majority opinions.

Justice Chin led in 2000 with eight criminal majority opinions.  Justice Brown wrote seven, Justice Werdegar wrote six and Chief Justice George and Justices Kennard and Baxter wrote five each.  For 2001, Chief Justice George led with nine majority opinions.  Justices Kennard and Chin had eight, Justice Baxter wrote seven and Justice Brown wrote five.  For 2002, Justice Chin once again led with 14 majority opinions.  Chief Justice George and Justice Baxter wrote 11 apiece and Justice Brown wrote 10.  For 2003, Justice Baxter led with ten majorities. Chief Justice George and Justices Brown and Baxter wrote eight apiece, Justice Moreno wrote three and Justices Kennard and Werdegar wrote two each.  For 2004, Justice Kennard led with 12 majority opinions.  Chief Justice George and Justice Chin wrote eight each, Justices Baxter and Moreno wrote seven each, and Justice Brown wrote six.  For 2005, Justice Chin led with seven majority opinions.  Justice Brown wrote six, and Justices Kennard, Werdegar and Baxter wrote five each.  For 2006, Justice Chin once again led with seven majority opinions.  Chief Justice George and Justices Kennard and Baxter were next with six majorities apiece.  Justice Werdegar wrote four, Justice Moreno wrote three and Justice Corrigan wrote two.  Finally, in 2007, Justices Chin and Baxter led, writing eight non-death criminal majorities each.  Justice Corrigan wrote seven, Justice Werdegar wrote six and Chief Justice George wrote five.

Table 147

For 2000, Chief Justice George wrote the longest average criminal majority opinions at 21.8 pages.  Justice Mosk was next at 21.33 pages, followed by Justice Werdegar at 21 pages.  Justices Kennard and Brown wrote the shortest average majorities – 15.2 and 11.71 pages.  For 2001, Justice Baxter led at 25 pages per majority opinion.  Chief Justice George averaged 23.11 pages.  Justice Werdegar averaged 18.75 pages, Justice Mosk averaged 16 pages, and Justice Chin averaged 15.75 pages.  Once again, Justices Brown and Kennard averaged the shortest opinions at 13.4 and 12.5 pages.  For 2002, Chief Justice George led, with an average majority of 34.09 pages.  Justice Moreno was next at 28 pages, followed by Justice Baxter at 27.82 pages and Justice Chin at 18.43 pages.  Justices Kennard and Werdegar averaged the shortest opinions at 15.33 and 10 pages.

For 2003, Justice Moreno led with an average majority opinion of 32.67 pages.  The Chief Justice and Justices Baxter and Chin were next at 24.75, 21.4 and 21.25 pages.  Justices Brown and Kennard wrote the shortest opinions at 13.63 and 12 pages, respectively.  For 2004, Justice Werdegar and Chief Justice George led, averaging 34 and 32.63 pages.  Justice Baxter averaged 25.86 and Justice Moreno averaged 20.29 pages.  Justices Brown and Kennard once again wrote the shortest opinions, averaging 13.67 and 13.08 pages.  For 2005, Chief Justice George led, averaging 29 pages per majority opinion.  Justice Baxter was next at 24 pages, followed by Justice Werdegar at 22.6.  The shortest average opinions were by Justices Chin, Brown and Kennard – 16.43, 16 and 14.2 pages, respectively.  For 2006, Justice Werdegar led at 27.25 pages.  Chief Justice George averaged 24.33 pages, Justice Baxter averaged 23.33 and Justice Moreno averaged 22.67 pages.  Justice Chin averaged the shortest criminal majority opinions at 12.57 pages.  Finally, in 2007, Justice Werdegar and Chief Justice George led at 25.83 pages and 24.2 pages.  The shortest majority opinions were by Justice Chin at 17.63 pages and Justice Corrigan at 13 pages.

Table 148

Join us back here tomorrow as we turn our attention to the Court’s majority opinions in civil cases between 2008 and 2015.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Jeff Turner (no changes).

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Yesterday, we analyzed the Justices’ history with majority opinions in civil cases between 2000 and 2007.  Today, we turn our attention to the Court’s history with majority opinions in automatic death penalty appeals.  We separate out death penalty appeals from criminal cases in general because majority opinions in death penalty cases are nearly always considerably longer than majority opinions in non-death criminal cases.

We report the number of majority opinions written by each Justice in death penalty cases in Table 144 below.  Justice Kennard led the Court during these years, writing 27 majority opinions in death cases.  Justice Chin was next with 23 majority opinions, followed by Justice Werdegar with 20.  Chief Justice George wrote 19 majority opinions, Justice Baxter wrote 17, Justice Brown 16, Justice Moreno 14, and Justices Corrigan and Mosk four each.

Justice Mosk led the Court in 2000, writing four majority opinions in death cases.  Justice Chin wrote three, and Justices Kennard, Werdegar and Baxter wrote two each.  For 2001, Justice Kennard led, writing four majority opinions.  The only other Justices writing more than one were the Chief Justice and Justice Chin, who wrote two apiece.  For 2002, Justice Kennard once again led with four majorities.  Justice Werdegar wrote three, and Chief Justice George and Justices Chin and Baxter wrote two each.  For 2003, Justice Brown led with five majority opinions in death penalty appeals.  Justice Kennard wrote four, and Justices Werdegar and Chin wrote three apiece.  For 2004, Justices Brown, Werdegar and Chin led, each writing four majority opinions in death cases.  Justice Moreno wrote three, and Chief Justice George and Justices Kennard and Baxter wrote two each.  For 2005, the Chief Justice led, writing seven majority opinions in death cases.  Justices Brown and Kennard wrote five, Justice Moreno three and Justices Werdegar and Chin two apiece.  The following year, Justices Baxter and Moreno led, writing five majority opinions each.  Justice Kennard wrote three and Chief Justice George and Justice Chin wrote two apiece.  Finally, in 2007, Justice Chin led with five majority opinions in death cases.  Justice Werdegar wrote four, Justices Corrigan, Kennard and Baxter wrote three apiece, and Chief Justice George and Justice Moreno wrote two each.

Table 144

Before we turn to the data on mean length of these opinions, in Table 145 we report a subset of that data.  Between 2000 and 2007, the Supreme Court filed twenty-eight majority opinions in death penalty cases which were 100 pages or more in length.  Chief Justice George wrote the most with nine.  He was followed by Justice Baxter, who wrote seven, Justice Werdegar with four, and Justices Kennard and Chin with three apiece.  Other than the Chief Justice and Justice Baxter, none of the Justices filed more than one 100+ page majority opinion in a single year.

Table 145

Chief Justice George and Justice Werdegar tended to write the longest majority opinions in death penalty appeals during these years.  For 2000, Chief Justice George’s average majority opinion in death penalty cases was 177 pages.  Justice Baxter averaged 107 pages.  Justice Werdegar averaged 82.5 pages, and Justice Brown averaged 76 pages.  The shortest average for 2000 was Justice Chin at 49.67 pages.  For 2001, Justice Werdegar’s average majority opinion was 143 pages.  Chief Justice George averaged 119 pages.  Justices Brown, Kennard and Baxter were next at 68, 66.75 and 66 pages, respectively.  For 2002, Justice Baxter led the Court, averaging 94.5 pages in death penalty appeals.  Chief Justice George averaged 80.5 pages and Justice Werdegar averaged 78.33 pages.  For 2003, Justice Werdegar led at 83.67 pages.  Justices Chin, Moreno, Baxter and Kennard were tightly bunched behind, averaging 68.67, 66, 64 and 59.75 pages.  For 2004, Chief Justice George and Justice Werdegar led at 97 pages and 90.25 pages.  Justice Kennard and Justice Brown wrote the shortest opinions that year, averaging 42 pages and 38.25 pages.  For 2005, Justice Werdegar led, averaging 103 pages.  The Chief Justice was next at 85.14 pages.  Justices Moreno and Baxter were at 74.33 and 73 pages.  Justices Chin and Brown averaged the shortest opinions that year at 65 pages and 58.2 pages.

For 2006, Chief Justice George and Justice Baxter both averaged more than 100 pages per majority opinion – the Chief Justice’s average majority opinion in death penalty cases that year was 122.5 pages, and Justice Baxter’s was 112.2.  Justices Corrigan and Chin averaged 81 and 80 pages, respectively.  Justice Moreno averaged 76.8 pages.  The shortest opinions that year were by Justice Kennard at 61.67 pages and Justice Werdegar at 58 pages.  For 2007, Chief Justice George averaged 118.5 pages.  Justice Baxter averaged 87 pages.  Justices Kennard, Werdegar and Chin were all in the 60-page range – 66.67 pages, 65 pages and 60 pages.  Justices Corrigan and Moreno wrote the shortest opinions that year at 43.67 pages and 42.5 pages.

Table 146

Join us back here next Thursday as we turn our attention to the Court’s majority opinions in non-death criminal cases between 2000 and 2007.

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Last week, we concluded our analysis of the distribution of concurring opinions in civil and criminal cases.  This week, we turn our attention to a new topic: the distribution and average length of the Court’s majority opinions.  We begin today with civil opinions between 2000 and 2007.

Between 2000 and 2007, Justice Werdegar led the Court with 74 majority opinions in civil cases.  Justice Brown wrote 52, Justice Moreno wrote 51, Chief Justice George and Baxter wrote 47 apiece, Justice Kennard wrote 45, Justice Chin wrote 44.  Justice Mosk wrote 17 and Justice Corrigan wrote 15.  For 2000, Justice Mosk led with 10 majority opinions.  Justice Werdegar wrote 9 and Justices Brown and Baxter wrote eight each.  For 2001 and 2002, Justice Brown led, writing 12 majority opinions in 2001 and 13 in 2002.  In 2001, Justices Werdegar, Chin and Mosk were next with seven civil opinions apiece.  For 2002, Justice Werdegar wrote nine opinions, Justice Moreno eight and Justice Kennard seven.  For 2003, Justices Kennard and Werdegar wrote nine majority opinions apiece.  Justices Brown and Chin wrote six each, and Chief Justice George and Justice Moreno wrote five each.  For 2004, Justice Werdegar led with thirteen majority opinions in civil cases.  Justice Moreno wrote ten, Justice Brown wrote nine and Justice Chin wrote six.  For 2005, Justice Moreno led with 12 majority opinions.  Chief Justice George and Justice Baxter wrote eight, and Justices Kennard, Werdegar and Chin wrote six apiece.  For 2006, Justice Werdegar once again led, writing twelve majority opinions in civil cases.  Justice Moreno wrote nine, Justices Chin and Baxter wrote eight apiece and Chief Justice George and Justice Corrigan wrote six each.  For 2007, Chief Justice George and Justices Corrigan and Werdegar wrote nine majority opinions each.  Justice Kennard wrote eight and Justice Moreno wrote seven.

Table 142

We report the mean length of each Justice’s majority opinions, year by year, in Table 143 below.  It appears that Chief Justice George averaged somewhat longer majority opinions than other members of the Court during these years.  This is not necessarily a surprise; on many appellate courts, there is a view that the Chief Justice should speak for the Court in high-profile cases.  Justices Baxter, Mosk and Moreno have perhaps averaged slightly longer opinions than the average; Justices Brown, Kennard and Chin have written somewhat shorter opinions on average.

For 2000, Chief Justice George on average wrote the longest majority opinions at 30.33 pages.  Justice Baxter averaged 29.5 pages and Justice Mosk averaged 28.3.  Justice Chin averaged 23 pages, Justice Brown 21.63, Justice Werdegar 18.22 and Justice Kennard 15.33.  For 2001, Justice Mosk led with an average majority opinion of 31.86 pages.  Chief Justice George averaged 29.25 pages, Justice Baxter 24.33 pages, Justice Werdegar 23.29 pages and Justice Brown 23.25 pages.  Justice Chin averaged 17.86 pages and Justice Kennard averaged 12 pages.  For 2002, Chief Justice George led with a mean length of 29 pages.  Justice Baxter averaged 26 pages, Justice Chin averaged 22.67 pages and Justice Werdegar averaged 21.67 pages.  The shortest averages for 2002 were Justice Kennard at 18.29 pages, Justice Moreno at 17.63 pages and Justice Brown, 17.08 pages.

For 2003, Chief Justice George led with an average opinion of 26.4 pages.  Justice Moreno averaged 26.2 pages, Justice Baxter averaged 24.5 pages, Justice Werdegar averaged 23.33 pages, and Justice Brown averaged 20.33 pages.  Justices Kennard and Chin averaged the shortest majority opinions – 17.33 and 16.83 pages, respectively.  For 2004, Chief Justice George averaged 43.6 pages per majority opinion.  Justices Moreno, Kennard and Werdegar were next at 25.3 pages, 21.25 pages and 21 pages.  Justice Brown averaged the shortest opinions in 2004 at 13.89 pages.  For 2005, Chief Justice George once again led at 32.38 pages.  Justices Brown, Moreno, Baxter and Werdegar were tightly bunched – 23.75 pages, 22.83 pages, 22.63 pages and 22.17 pages, respectively.  Justice Kennard once again averaged the shortest opinions at 17.83 pages.  For 2006, Chief Justice George led with an average majority opinion of 43 pages.  Justices Moreno and Baxter were next at 29.56 pages and 29 pages.  Justices Kennard and Corrigan averaged the shortest opinions – 16.25 pages and 16.17 pages.  For 2007, Chief Justice George once again led with an average majority opinion of 35.22 pages.  Justices Baxter and Moreno were next, averaging 26 pages each.  Justice Werdegar averaged 22 pages, Justice Kennard averaged 20.5 pages.  The shortest average civil opinions in 2007 were Justice Chin at 19.75 pages and Justice Corrigan at 14.33 pages.

Table 143

Join us back here tomorrow as we turn our attention to the Court’s majority opinions in death penalty appeals between 2000 and 2007.

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

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Yesterday, we looked at which Justices have filed the most concurrences, year by year, in civil cases since 2008.  Today, we turn our attention to the criminal side of the docket.

Despite having not joined the Court until the fall of 2011, there’s no question that Justice Liu files the most concurrences in criminal cases.  Justice Werdegar is next, followed by Justice Kennard.

For 2008, Justice Kennard wrote four concurrences in criminal cases.  Justices Werdegar, Baxter and Moreno wrote three, Justice Chin two and Justice Corrigan one.  For 2009, Justices Kennard, Werdegar and Moreno wrote two concurrences apiece, and Justice Chin wrote one.  For 2010, Justice Werdegar wrote four concurrences, Justices Kennard and Moreno wrote three and Justice Baxter wrote two.  For 2011, Justices Kennard and Werdegar led with four concurrences each.  Justice Liu wrote two and Justices Baxter and Chin wrote one apiece.

In 2012, Justice Liu filed ten concurrences in criminal cases.  Justice Werdegar was next with eight.  Justice Kennard was next with two, and Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye and Justices Corrigan, Chin and Baxter wrote one apiece.  In 2013, Justice Liu once again led, filing eight concurrences in civil cases.  Justice Baxter was next with four, Justice Kennard wrote three, Justices Werdegar and Chin wrote two each, and Justice Corrigan wrote one.  In 2014, Justice Liu was the only Justice who wrote more than one concurrence in criminal cases – he wrote nine.  Justices Corrigan, Werdegar and Chin wrote one each.  In 2015, Justice Liu was the only Justice to file a concurrence in a criminal case, writing three.

Table 140

In Table 141 below, we report the mean length of each Justice’s concurrences.  It’s not clear that any Justice tended to write longer concurrences than the others year after year.  In 2008, Justices Corrigan and Baxter averaged six pages apiece.  Justice Moreno averaged five pages, Justice Kennard 2.75 pages, Justice Werdegar 2.33 pages, and Justice Chin averaged two pages.  In 2009, Justice Kennard led, averaging 4.5 pages.  Justice Moreno averaged 3.5 pages, Justice Werdegar averaged three, and Justice Chin averaged 1 page per concurrence.  In 2010, Justice Baxter averaged the longest concurrences, averaging six pages.  Justice Werdegar averaged four pages, Justice Moreno 3.33 pages and Justice Kennard two.  In 2011, Justice Baxter once again led, averaging seven pages.  Justice Liu averaged 6.5 pages, Justice Kennard 4.25 pages, Justice Werdegar 2.5 pages and Justice Chin 1 page.  In 2012, Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye led, writing a single ten-page concurrence.  Justice Chin averaged eight pages.  Justice Werdegar’s average concurrence was 6.88 pages.  Justice Corrigan averaged five pages, Justice Liu averaged 4.2 pages, Justice Baxter three and Justice Kennard two pages.

In 2013, Justice Liu led, averaging 14.13 pages per concurrence. Justice Kennard was next at 7.33 pages.  Justice Corrigan averaged six pages, Justice Werdegar 5.5 pages, Justice Baxter 2.75 pages and Justice Chin averaged two.  In 2014, Justice Liu once again led, averaging 4.44 pages per concurrence.  Justice Corrigan averaged four pages, and Justices Werdegar and Chin averaged two pages apiece.  In 2015, Justice Liu averaged seven pages per concurrence.

Table 141

Join us back here next Thursday as we turn our attention to a new area of analysis.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Jill Clardy (no changes).