Today, we’re finishing our review of the agreement rates for the Justices between 2014 and 2018.  If you get the impression reading the data below that the agreement rates for criminal cases below are consistently lower than the agreement rates on the civil side during the same years reviewed here, you’re right.  I calculated an “average agreement rate” for each Justice – add up the agreement rates for each Justice below and divide by the number of observations – then did the same thing for the civil data.  Average civil agreement rates per Justice range from a high of 76.67 (Justice Neville) to a low of 43.03 (Justice Kilbride).  On the criminal side, average agreement rates range from a high of 60.71 (Justice Theis) to a low of 46.9 (Justice Burke).  In other words, excepting only Justice Kilbride, each individual Justice’s average civil agreement rate is higher than any Justice’s average criminal agreement rate – suggesting that the Justices’ philosophies in criminal law diverge from one another significantly more than they do on the civil side.

Justice Burke’s closest match was Justice Neville, in his part year in 2018, at 83.33.  Next was Justice Freeman at 70%.  Two Justices were in the forties – Justice Kilbride (44.44%) and Justice Garman (41.67%).  Two more were in the thirties – Justice Theis (36.11%) and Justice Karmeier (30.56%).  Finally, Justices Thomas and Burke had an agreement rate of only 22.22%.

No fewer than five colleagues had an agreement rate with Justice Garman in the sixties – Justices Thomas and Theis (69.44%), Justices Kilbride and Karmeier (63.89%) and Justice Freeman (60%).  Justices Garman and Burke were at 41.67%, and Justices Garman and Neville had an agreement rate of 33.33%.

Justice Freeman’s agreement rate with Justice Burke was 70%.  He had an agreement rate in the sixties with Justice Theis (66.67%) and Justice Garman (60%).  The remaining Justices were all in the fifties – Justices Kilbride (56.67%), Thomas and Karmeier (both 53.33%).

Because his part year in 2018 produced a very small data set, Justice Neville’s agreement rates spread across a very wide range.   He agreed with Justice Burke in 83.33% of cases.  His agreement rate with Justice Kilbride was 66.67%.  He agreed half the time with Justice Theis.  He had an agreement rate of 33.33% with Justices Garman and Karmeier.  Finally, Justices Neville and Thomas had an agreement rate of 16.67%.

Justice Kilbride had an agreement rate in the sixties with four Justices – Theis and Neville (both 66.67%) and Karmeier and Garman (63.89%).  Justice Kilbride and Freeman had an agreement rate of 56.67%, and Justices Kilbride and Thomas were at 55.56%.  Justices Kilbride and Burke had an agreement rate of 44.44%.

Justices Thomas and Karmeier had an agreement rate of 83.33%.  Two Justices were in the sixties – Justice Garman at 69.44% and Justice Theis at 66.67%.  Two more were in the fifties – Justice Kilbride at 55.56% and Justice Freeman at 53.33%.  Justices Thomas and Burke had an agreement rate of 22.22%, and as noted above, Justices Thomas and Neville were at 16.67%.

As we just mentioned, Justices Karmeier and Thomas had an agreement rate of 83.33%.  Justices Karmeier and Theis were at 69.44%, and Justices Kilbride and Garman both had agreement rates with the current Chief Justice of 63.89%.  Justices Karmeier and Freeman had an agreement rate of 53.33%.  Justice Neville had a rate of 53.33%, and Justices Karmeier and Burke were at 30.56%.

Five of Justice Theis’ colleagues had an agreement rate with her in the sixties – Justices Garman and Karmeier (69.44%), and Justices Freeman, Kilbride and Thomas (all 66.67%).  Justice Theis and Justice Neville had a rate of 50%, and Justices Theis and Burke agreed only 36.11% of the time.

Join us back here next Tuesday as we turn our attention to a new topic.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Brian Crawford (no changes).