Yesterday, we reviewed the frequency with which the Justices of the Illinois Supreme Court voted in the majority in divided civil cases between 2008 and 2015. Today, we turn our attention to the Court’s non-unanimous criminal cases for the same years.

We report the data in Table 383 below.  In 2008, Justice Fitzgerald led the Court with eight votes in the majority in non-unanimous criminal cases.  Justices Garman and Karmeier joined the majority six times each, Justice Burke did so five times, and Chief Justice Thomas and Justices Kilbride and Freeman did so four times apiece.  For 2009, Chief Justice Fitzgerald led the Court, voting with the majority thirteen times.  Justices Karmeier and Garman were next with eleven and Justices Kilbride and Thomas had nine each.  Justice Burke voted with the majority eight times, and Justice Freeman did so six times.  The following year, Justices Kilbride and Thomas led with thirteen majority votes apiece.  Chief Justice Fitzgerald and Justice Garman joined the majority twelve times apiece.  Justice Karmeier voted with the majority eleven times, Justice Freeman did so five times and Justice Burke three.

In 2011, Chief Justice Kilbride and Justice Theis were tied with ten majority votes apiece in criminal cases, leading the Court.  Justices Garman, Thomas and Karmeier did so seven times apiece, and Justices Burke and Freeman voted with the majority four times each.  For 2012, Justices Garman, Thomas and Karmeier led the Court with nine majority votes each.  Justice Theis joined the majority eight times.  Justice Burke voted with the majority six times, and Chief Justice Kibride and Justice Freeman did so five times apiece.  The next year, Chief Justice Kilbride and Justice Thomas led the Court, voting in the majority twelve times apiece.  Justices Garman and Karmeier joined the majority eleven times apiece, and Justice Freeman did so ten times.  Justices Burke and Theis voted with the majority eight times each.

For 2014, Chief Justice Garman and Justices Kilbride, Thomas and Karmeier led the Court, with each joining the majority six times in non-unanimous criminal cases.  Justices Freeman and Theis voted with the majority five times, and Justice Burke did so four times.  Last year, voting was once again evenly distributed, as Chief Justice Garman and Justices Thomas, Karmeier and Theis each voted with the majority five times.  Justice Kilbride voted with the majority four times, and Justices Burke and Kilbride joined the majority in non-unanimous criminal cases three times.

Join us back here next Tuesday as we turn our attention to another question in our ongoing analysis of the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision making.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Andrew Prickett (no changes).