Yesterday, we continued our review of the geographic origins of the Illinois Supreme Court’s docket with a look at the Court’s civil and criminal caseload in the years 2010-2012. Today, we conclude our analysis with a look at the past three years, 2013-2015.
The Court’s civil docket from Cook County dropped from 19 cases in 2012 to 13 in 2013 – 39.39% of the docket. The Court heard four cases from Sangamon County, or 12.12% of the civil docket. DuPage and LaSalle counties contributed two cases apiece in 2013 (6.06% each). The rest of the Court’s civil docket was widely distributed, with a dozen counties contributing one case each: Lake, Kane, McHenry, Will, Macoupin, Woodford, Effingham, Vermilion, LaSalle, Piatt and Stephenson counties, the Pollution Control Board and the Educational Labor Relations Board.
We report the data on the Supreme Court’s criminal docket for 2013 in Table 185 below. The Court heard 21 cases from Cook County Circuit Court, or 55.26% of the docket. Three cases each arose from Lake and Morgan counties, or 7.89% each of the criminal docket. The Court heard two cases from Peoria County, or 5.26% of the docket. The remainder of the docket was distributed among nine jurisdictions – Winnebago, Kane, Adams, Champaign, McLean, Jackson, Livingston, Clinton counties and the ARDC Review Board.
In 2014, Cook County’s share of the civil docket increased from 39.39% to exactly half. The Court heard three cases from Sangamon County – once again, the second leading source of civil cases at 11.54% of the docket. Two cases each arose from Lake and Macoupin counties – 7.69% of the docket. The rest of the civil docket was spread among only six jurisdictions: Kane, Franklin, Kendall, Washington and Marion counties and the Illinois Commerce Commission.
Cook County’s share of the criminal docket dropped in 2014 as the Court heard only 11 cases – 32.35% of the criminal docket. Kane County contributed three criminal cases to the docket (8.82%). McLean and Randolph counties and the ARDC Review Board were responsible for two cases each. The rest of the docket was widely distributed with fourteen jurisdictions accounting for one case apiece – Lake, St. Clair, DuPage, Champaign, Livingston, Marion, Vermilion, Peoria, Whiteside, Macon, Stark, Kendall, McDonough and Perry counties, for a collective 41.16% of the docket.
Cook County’s share of the civil docket fell to 37.78% in 2015. Four cases arose from Lake County, accounting for 8.89%. Champaign County produced three cases, St. Clair, Sangamon, Will and Peoria counties two each. Once again, the low end of the docket was widely dispersed, with thirteen jurisdictions producing one case apiece – Winnebago, McHenry, DuPage, Madison, Macon, McLean, Jefferson, Jackson, Stephenson, Warren and Saline counties, the Commerce Commission and the Educational Labor Relations Board.
The Cook County caseload was up on the criminal side in 2015, with the Court hearing 16 cases originating there (48.48% of the criminal docket). The Court heard four criminal cases from Will County and three from Kane County. The Court heard one case each from ten different counties – St. Clair, Sangamon, DuPage, Adams, McLean, Jefferson, Peoria, Rock Island, Macoupin and DeKalb counties – collectively accounting for the final 30.3% of the docket.
Next week, we’ll begin tracing the areas of law the Court has addressed in its civil and criminal dockets over the past sixteen years.
Image courtesy of Flickr by Katherine Johnson (no changes).