SCOTUSblog’s Kedar Bhatia released his annual Stat Pack for October Term 2014 this week – an invaluable resource for the Supreme Court community. You can access the Stat Pack in full, here. Here are my top ten takeaways:
- Circuit Scorecard
- The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit was affirmed 100% of the time during the 2014 Term, while the Second, Third, Seventh, and Eleventh Circuits were reversed 100% of the time.
- State courts were affirmed 60% of the time.
- Merits Cases by Split Vote
- More unanimous opinions were released (40%) than 5-4 opinions (26%).
- Make-Up of the Merits Docket
- 89% of cases came from the United States Courts of Appeals.
- 87% of cases were paid (booklet format) petitions.
- 75% of cases were civil in nature.
- Opinion Authorship
- Justice Thomas authored the most total opinions (37).
- Justice Thomas also authored the most dissents (19).
- Justice Scalia authored the most majority opinions (9).
- Frequency in the Majority
- Justice Breyer was in the majority most frequently (92%).
- Justice Thomas was least frequently in the majority (61%).
- In cases split 5-4, Justices Kennedy and Breyer were most frequently in the majority (74%).
- In cases split 5-4, Justice Scalia was least frequently in the majority (32%).
- Justice Agreement – All Cases
- Justices Breyer and Sotomayor fully agreed more than any other duo (86%), while Justices Thomas and Sotomayor fully agreed in half of all cases.
- Justice Agreement – Highs and Lows
- When taking into account whether the Justices agreed in full, part, or judgment only, Justices Ginsburg and Breyer agreed 94.4% of the time, while Justices Scalia and Breyer agreed in just 62.5% of cases.
- Grants Per Conference
- The first conference in October (the “long conference”) had 12 cert. grants.
- The Justices broke five different conferences without granting a single petition.
- Oral Argument – Justices
- Justice Scalia asked the highest number of questions per oral argument (22).
- Justice Thomas did not ask a question during oral argument yet again this term.
- Oral Argument – Advocates
- Harvard Law School sent the most advocates (21).
- Justice Scalia sent more former law clerks than any other Justice (8).
- Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. appeared more than any other advocate (7).
- Fewer than 1/5 advocates were female.
- Almost half (46%) had experience in the Office of the Solicitor General.
Citation: Kedar Bhatia, Final Stat Pack for October Term 2014, SCOTUSblog (July. 1, 2015), http://www.scotusblog.com/2015/06/final-stat-pack-for-october-term-2014/