Update to court's 2009 case statistics

Posted on February 10, 2010 by Michael Reitz

We've updated the case-by-case spreadsheet for the Supreme Court's 2009 opinions to include the number of days between argument and the court's opinion. The rule of thumb is the court takes about six months to issue a decision after hearing arguments.

On average, the court took 223 days (31 weeks) to issue opinions in the cases where arguments were heard. Fifteen decisions in 2009 were pending for over a year, while 20 cases were disposed of in less than three months. One case, State v. Wright, which dealt with double jeopardy, sat for 674 days (96 weeks) before being resolved.

UPDATE: More numbers inspired by the comments below. Here is the average time from argument to decision based on who authored the majority opinion.

138 days Chambers
176 days Owens
207 days C. Johnson
210 days Fairhurst
221 days Sanders
223 days Court average
254 days Stephens
267 days J. Johnson
279 days Alexander
281 days Madsen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, the average wait based on the case's vote split.

127 days 9-0
212 days 7-2
223 days Court avg.
226 days 9-0 in result only
232 days 8-1
283 days 5-4
346 days 6-3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Washington Supreme Court 2009 statistics

Posted on January 7, 2010 by Michael Reitz

Every term we track the opinions and votes of each justice and provide a spreadsheet with a case-by-case breakout. Here are the numbers for 2009.

 

 Number of Opinions by Justice 

Justice

Majority Opinions

Concurring Opinions

Dissents

Total Opinions

Alexander

7

2

7

16

C.Johnson

15

1

4

20

Madsen

18

15

6

39

Sanders

11

5

20

36

Chambers

14

4

6

24

Owens

14

1

3

18

Fairhurst

12

5

6

23

J.Johnson

11

4

4

19

Stephens

15

3

3

21

 

The workload for 2009 was fairly evenly distributed. Soon-to-be Chief Justice Barbara Madsen was the most prolific writer this year, with 18 majority opinions and 39 total opinions. Justice Richard Sanders is the most frequent dissenter, writing nearly three times as many dissents as any other justice (including a dissent to his own majority opinion). As is common for the chief justice, Gerry Alexander wrote fewer opinions because of the additional administrative duties his position requires. Justice Debra Stephens participated in the fewest decisions as she joined the court after many of the cases had been argued, but she still managed to author the second-most majority opinions this year.

 

Frequency of Agreement between Justices

  C.Johnson
 Madsen Sanders Chambers Owens Fairhurst J.Johnson Stephens
Alexander

79%

76%

70%

77%

80%

75%

81%

81%
  C.Johnson

84%

68%

80%

86%

81%

81%

81%
 
Madsen

68%

78%

87%

88%

77%

83%
      Sanders

79%

68%

66%

64%

75%
        Chambers

81%

76%

72%

88%
          Owens

88%

79%

84%
            Fairhurst

84%

83%
              J.Johnson

72%

 

Ever wonder which justices agree with each other most frequently? The above chart documents the percentage of cases in which justices are on the same side of an opinion (majority and concurring opinions are treated as equivalent). The justices with the highest rates of agreement were Madsen and Fairhurst (88%), Chambers and Stephens (88%), and Owens and Fairhurst (88%). The justices with the lowest rates of agreement were Sanders and Fairhurst (66%), and Sanders and Jim Johnson (64%).

 

Frequency in the Majority 

Justice

Majority Votes*

Total Votes

% in Majority

Unanimous Opinions

Alexander

 94

115

 82%

3

C.Johnson

106

117

 91%

 2

Madsen

 104

115

 90%

4

Sanders

 80

114

 70%

4

Chambers

 97

117

 83%

5

Owens

 108

117

 92%

5

Fairhurst

95

109

 87%

3

J.Johnson

96

117

 82%

5

Stephens

91

102

 89%

6

*Including concurring votes

 

Number of Decisions by Vote Count

Splits

Number of Cases

% of Total

9-0

58

49%

8-1

10

8%

8-0

1

1%

7-2

12

10%

6-3

19

16%

6-2

1

1%

5-4

16

14%

5-3

1

1%

 

Unlike the U.S. Supreme Court, which sees many narrow 5-4 decisions, the state Supreme Court enjoys a number of strong majority opinions, with nearly half of its rulings unanimous or 9-0 in the outcome. Justices will frequently concur in the result of an opinion, while employing a separate rationale for reaching his or her conclusion.

Coming Soon: the court's noteworthy opinions from 2009.

 

(Note: Feel free to use these numbers, but we'd appreciate if you'd cite the Supreme Court of Washington Blog as the source.)

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The court's 2009 statistics (YTD)

Posted on July 6, 2009 by Michael Reitz

Last week the Supreme Court of Washington concluded its Spring Term. With that milestone, we are introducing a new feature here at the blog. Every term we will track the opinions and votes of each justice, and will provide a spreadsheet with a case-by-case breakout. Here are the raw numbers for January - June 2009.

 A few trends are worth noting in the charts below.

 Number of Opinions by Justice 

Justice

Majority Opinions

Concurring Opinions

Dissents

Total Opinions

Alexander

2

1

3

6

C.Johnson

4

0

3

7

Madsen

8

9

5

22

Sanders

5

1

8

14

Chambers

10

0

1

11

Owens

3

1

1

5

Fairhurst

5

2

4

11

J.Johnson

0

1

1

2

Stephens

10

2

1

13

 (more after the jump)

 

Frequency in the Majority 

Justice

Majority Votes*

Total Votes

% in Majority

Unanimous Opinions**

Alexander

 37

 47

 79%

 1

C.Johnson

 40

 47

 85%

 2

Madsen

 41

 47

 87%

 1

Sanders

 33

 46

 72%

 3

Chambers

 41

 47

 87%

 7

Owens

 43

 47

 91%

 2

Fairhurst

 38

 45

 84%

 3

J.Johnson

 37

 47

 79%

 0

Stephens

 37

 40

 93%

 4

*Including concurring votes
**Including cases that were unanimous in results only

 

Number of Decisions by Vote Count

Splits

Number of Cases

% of Total

9-0

22

46%

8-1

3

6%

8-0

1

2%

7-2

4

8%

6-3

10

21%

6-2

1

2%

5-4

7

15%

 

A few observations:

Justice Debra Stephens did not participate in a number of cases where she joined the court after the case was argued, or cases in which she participated as a judge on the Court of Appeals before she was elevated to the Supreme Court. Even so, the court's junior member has been busy, writing 10 majority opinions this year -- the most for any justice (a position she shares with Justice Tom Chambers, who also wrote ten).

Justice Barbara Madsen takes top marks as the most prolific justice, writing 22 opinions so far, while Justice Richard Sanders continues to enjoy his role as the court's inveterate dissenter. Sanders authored eight dissenting opinions, including a case where he dissented to his own opinion. (The case, State v. Daniels, was decided in 2007, with Sanders as the majority author. The Ninth Circuit subsequently ruled on a similar issue, but reached the opposite conclusion. The state Supreme Court granted a motion for reconsideration in Daniels, but upheld Sanders' original ruling, with Sanders dissenting.) 

Unlike the U.S. Supreme Court, which sees many narrow 5-4 decisions, the state Supreme Court enjoys a number of strong majority opinions, with nearly half of its rulings unanimous or 9-0 in the outcome. Justices will frequently concur in the result of an opinion, while employing a separate rationale for reaching his or her conclusion.

(Note: Feel free to use these numbers, but we'd appreciate if you'd cite the Supreme Court of Washington Blog as the source.)
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