Yesterday, we showed how Justice Garman’s vote and whether she is writing an opinion impacts her question patterns in criminal cases.  Today, we take the analysis the final step: what can we infer when Justice Garman asks the first question in a criminal case?

When Justice Garman is in the majority of an affirmance, she asks the appellant the first question 22.3% of the time, and begins with the appellee 16.89% of the time.  Writing the Court’s opinion has a substantial impact.  When she’s writing the majority opinion of an affirmance, she asks the first question to appellant 43.33% of the time, and begins with the appellee 26.67% of the time.  On the other hand, when Justice Garman is not writing, the likelihood she’ll ask the first question of appellant is 17.24%, of appellees, 13.79%.

Justice Garman is slightly less often the first questioner when in the majority of a reversal.  In such cases, she asks the first question of appellants 18.07% of the time, and begins with appellees 14.46% of the time.  Writing an opinion has an impact with respect to appellants in reversals, but not appellees.  When writing the majority opinion in a reversal, Justice Garman asks the first question of appellants 31.82% of the time, but begins with appellees only 4.55% of the time.  When Justice Garman is not writing an opinion in a reversal, she asks the first question of appellants 16.55% of the time, of appellees 15.83% of the time.

When Justice Garman is in the minority of an affirmance, she has asked the first question of appellants half the time, and of appellees 25% of the time.  As we noted yesterday, Justice Garman has written only one dissent in such cases, and she asked the first question of appellee.

When Justice Garman is in the minority of a reversal, she asks the first question of appellants 37.5% of the time and begins with appellees 12.5% of the time.  When she writes a dissent in such cases, the chances she will ask the first question of appellants is one in three.  In such cases, the chances she’ll begin with the appellee are 16.67%.  When Justice Garman is not writing in the minority of a reversal, she begins with the appellant half the time.

Join us back here next Tuesday as we turn our attention to the record of Justice Charles Freeman in civil cases.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Teemu008 (no changes).