Last time, we reviewed the Justices’ agreement rates – how often each possible combination of Justices, two at a time, voted together – in civil cases between 1990 and 1995.  In this post, we’re looking at the same number for the years 1996 to 2001.

In Table 1007, we report the data for our first group of combinations.  Justice McMorrow’s agreement rate during these years wasn’t especially high with any other Justice.  She agreed at least seventy percent of the time with four of her colleagues – Justices Freeman (77.14%), Bilandic (75.41%), Rathje (73.53%) and Miller (71.09%).  Only one combination was in the sixties – Justices McMorrow and Nickels, at 65.56%.  Six different combinations were in the fifties and forties – Justices Heiple (56%), Harrison (40.88%), Garman (45.45%), Kilbride (53.85%), Thomas (41.67%) and Fitzgerald (53.85%).  Justices Miller and Freeman had an agreement rate of 71.09%.

Although the bulk of our next group of combinations is around the same level as the previous chart, Justice Miller had a 100% agreement rate between 1996 and 2001 with two other Justices – Thomas and Fitzgerald.  His agreement rate with Justice Rathje was 82.35%; his rate with Justice Kilbride was 75%.  Six different combinations on this chart were in the sixties – Justices Miller and Heiple (66.94%), Justices Miller and Nickels (66.29%), Justices Miller and Bilandic (69.42%), Justices Freeman and Nickels (63.33%), Justices Freeman and Rathje (67.65%), and Justices Freeman and Kilbride (61.54%).  One combination each was in the fifties (Justices Freeman and Heiple – 58.4%), in the forties (Justices Freeman and Harrison – 45.26%), and in the thirties (Justices Miller and Harrison – 36%).

Justices Garman and Thomas had an agreement rate of 100% for these years.  Two combinations were in the seventies – Justices Freeman and Bilandic (73.77%) and Justices Heiple and Nickels (71.59%).  Three more were in the sixties – Justices Freeman and Fitzgerald (61.54%), Justices Rathje and Bilandic (62.5%), and Justices Heiple and Rathje (67.65%).  Three were in the fifties – Justices Freeman and Thomas (50%), Justices Heiple and Bilandic (58.33%) and Justices Garman and Freeman (54.55%).  Three combinations had agreement rates in the forties – Justices Harrison and Bilandic (46.67%), Justices Heiple and Harrison (45.08%) and Justices Garman and Kilbride (45.45%).  One combination, Justices Rathje and Harrison had an agreement rate of 30.3%.

Finally, Justice Fitzgerald had agreement rates in the seventies with Justices Garman (72.73%) and Thomas (75%).  Justices Nickels and Bilandic were similar – 70.11%.  Justice Kilbride had agreement rates in the sixties with Justices Harrison (61.54%) and Fitzgerald (69.23%).  Justice Harrison was in the sixities with Justices Nickels (62.5%) and Fitzgerald (61.54%).  The agreement rate for Justices Harrison and Bilandic was 50%, and the rate between Justices Harrison and Garman was only slightly lower at 45.45%.  Justice Thomas’ agreement rates were identical for Justices Kilbride and Harrison at 41.67%.

Join us back here next week as we review the civil case data for the years 2002-2007 and 2008-2013.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Ron Cogswell (no changes).