Cases involving government and administrative law fell substantially between 2006 to 2013. During those eight years, the Court decided thirty-eight cases: eight in 2006, four in 2007, one in 2008, five in 2009, two in 2010, seven in 2011, five in 2012 and six in 2013.

The Court decided twenty cases won by the defender of government action or power below and eighteen won by the party challenging the government.

Once again, challengers to government conduct who won at the Appellate Court had a difficult time at the Supreme Court, winning eight cases while losing fourteen.

Defenders of government conduct and authority didn’t do much better, winning only five while losing eleven.

Overall (disregarding the winner below), challengers to government conduct won fourteen cases between 2006 and 2013 while losing twenty-four.

What kinds of issues was the Court deciding in these cases?  The Court decided twenty-one cases involving the powers and duties of government entities and officials, thirteen involving private individuals’ rights against the government, and only four involving government entities’ procedures.

Justice Kilbride led with fourteen votes between 2006 and 2013 for challengers to government authority and action.  Chief Justice Karmeier and Justices Freeman and Thomas cast twelve votes each.  Justice Garman cast eleven votes, Justice Burke cast ten, Justice Theis cast seven, Justice Fitzgerald cast five and Justice McMorrow cast two.

Three Justices led the Court with twenty-six votes against challengers to government conduct and authority: Justices Freeman, Garman and Thomas.  Chief Justice Karmeier cast twenty-five votes against challengers, Justice Kilbride cast twenty-three, Justice Burke cast nineteen, Justice Fitzgerald cast fourteen, Justice Theis cast ten and Justice McMorrow cast three.

Join us next time for the final part of this post, covering the years 2014 to 2019 and taking stock of the overall numbers.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Doug Kerr (no changes).