Yesterday, we began our analysis of the work of the individual Justices at the Illinois Supreme Court by analyzing the distribution of majority opinions in civil cases between 2000 and 2004. Today, we turn our attention to the Court’s criminal docket during those same years.

Between 2000 and 2002, the non-unanimous majority opinions in criminal cases were somewhat more evenly distributed than they were on the civil side. Justice McMorrow wrote 13 non-unanimous majorities in criminal cases in 2000. Justice Rathje wrote 11 and Justice Heiple wrote 10. Justice Bilandic wrote eight, and Chief Justice Harrison and Justices Miller and Freeman wrote seven apiece. In 2001, there were many fewer non-unanimous criminal decisions. Justices McMorrow and Freeman wrote six majorities each, Justices Thomas and Fitzgerald wrote four apiece. Justice Miller wrote two majorities, and Chief Justice Harrison and Justice Garman wrote one apiece.

For 2002, Justices Garman, Freeman and Fitzgerald led the Court with six non-unanimous majorities each. Chief Justice McMorrow and Justice Thomas wrote five apiece. Justice Kilbride wrote three and Chief Justice Harrison wrote one. In 2003, Chief Justice McMorrow led the Court with five majority opinions in non-unanimous criminal cases. Justices Thomas and Fitzgerald wrote four apiece. Justice Freeman wrote three, and Justices Garman, Kilbride and Rarick wrote one each. Finally, in 2004, Justice Freeman led with four majority opinions in non-unanimous criminal cases. Chief Justice McMorrow and Justice Thomas were next with two apiece, and Justices Garman, Kilbride, Rarick and Fitzgerald wrote one apiece.

We report the same data in Table 361 below as a percentage of total non-unanimous criminal decisions. In 2000, Justice McMorrow was responsible for 20.63% of the non-unanimous criminal decisions. Justice Rathje wrote 17.46%, Justice Heiple wrote 15.87%, and Chief Justice Harrison and Justices Miller and Freeman wrote 11.11% apiece. For 2001, Justices McMorrow and Freeman wrote one quarter of the non-unanimous criminal majorities apiece. Justices Thomas and Fitzgerald wrote 16.67% of the majorities that year.

For 2002, Justices Garman, Freeman and Fitzgerald each wrote 18.75% of the Court’s non-unanimous criminal majorities. Chief Justice McMorrow and Justice Thomas wrote 15.63%. In 2003, Chief Justice McMorrow wrote 26.32% of the Court’s non-unanimous criminal majorities. Justices Thomas and Fitzgerald wrote 21.05% each. Justice Freeman wrote 15.8%. For 2004, Justice Freeman wrote one-third of the non-unanimous criminal majority opinions. Chief Justice McMorrow and Justice Thomas wrote 16.67% apiece.

In Table 362 below, we report the total majorities by each Justice in unanimous criminal decisions. In 2000, Chief Justice Harrison led the Court with five unanimous majorities. Justices McMorrow, Miller, Freeman, Heiple and Bilandic each wrote three. Justice Rathje wrote two. In 2001, Justice Freeman wrote six majorities. Chief Justice Harrison and Justices Thomas and Fitzgerald wrote five apiece. Justice McMorrow wrote four, Justice Garman three and Justices Miller and Kilbride wrote two unanimous criminal majorities apiece.

In 2002, Justice Thomas led with eight majority opinions in unanimous criminal decisions. Justice Fitzgerald wrote seven, Chief Justice McMorrow wrote six, and Justices Freeman and Kilbride wrote five apiece. Justice Garman wrote three majorities and Chief Justice Harrison wrote one. For 2003, Justice Fitzgerald led with nine majorities among unanimous criminal decisions. Justice Garman was next with seven, Chief Justice McMorrow wrote five, and Justices Freeman and Rarick wrote four apiece. Justice Kilbride wrote three and Justice Thomas wrote two. In 2004, Justice Rarick led with nine unanimous criminal majorities. Justices Garman and Kilbride wrote seven. Chief Justice McMorrow and Justice Thomas wrote five. Justice Fitzgerald wrote four majorities, and Justice Freeman wrote three.

We report the data for majority opinions as a percentage of the total unanimous decisions in Table 363 below. In 2000, Chief Justice Harrison wrote 22.73% of the unanimous criminal-side majority opinions. Justices McMorrow, Miller, Freeman, Heiple and Bilandic all were responsible for 13.64% of the Court’s unanimous opinions. In 2001, Justice Freeman was responsible for 18.75% of the Court’s unanimous criminal opinions, and Chief Justice Harrison and Justices Thomas and Fitzgerald wrote 15.63% each. The next year, Justice Thomas wrote 22.22% of the Court’s unanimous majorities. Chief Justice McMorrow wrote 16.67%, and Justices Freeman and Kilbride wrote 13.89% apiece.

In 2003, Justice Fitzgerald wrote 26.47% of the Court’s unanimous criminal opinions. Justice Garman wrote 20.59%. Chief Justice McMorrow wrote 14.71%, and Justice Freeman wrote 11.76%. For 2004, Justice Rarick led the Court, writing 22.5% of the Court’s unanimous criminal opinions. Justices Kilbride and Garman wrote 17.5% each. Chief Justice McMorrow and Justice Thomas were responsible for 12.5% of the Court’s unanimous criminal majority opinions apiece.

Join us back here next Tuesday as we turn our attention to the Court’s majority opinions between 2005 and 2009.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Natalie Maynor (no changes).