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

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

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Yesterday, we analyzed the Justices’ concurrences in civil cases between 2000 and 2007.  Today, we turn our attention to the Court’s criminal cases between 2000 and 2007.

Concurrences were on a downward slope during these years.  The Court’s most busy year was 2000, when there were 28 concurrences filed in criminal, quasi-criminal and juvenile matters.