Last week, we looked at the question of how often the Illinois Supreme Court considers unanimous civil decisions from the Appellate Court. Now we turn to a related question: how often does the Court review unpublished decisions?According to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 23, the Appellate Courts are to issue formal opinions under only two circumstances: (1) when the proposed decision “establishes a new rule of law or modifies, explains or criticizes an existing rule of law,” or (2) when “the decision resolves, creates, or avoids an apparently conflict of authority within the Appellate Court.” All other cases fall under Rule 23(b) and are decided by non-precedential orders. Because the Appellate Court has a mandatory civil docket – meaning that the Court must hear nearly all of the appeals brought before it – a large majority of its cases are decided by Rule 23 orders:

Tomorrow, we turn to the data: how often does the Illinois Supreme Court grant leave to appeal from Rule 23 orders?

Image courtesy of Flickr by Yuri Samoilov (no changes).