With one seat on the Court switching from Democratic to Republican hands as a result of the 2004 election, a centrist majority of Chief Justice Thomas, Garman and Karmeier began to emerge, often joined by Justice Fitzgerald. As a result, with the exception of 2006 (when the unanimity rate abruptly dipped to 57.4%), the Court
Who Were the Swing Votes at the Illinois Supreme Court, 2000-2004?
For the past two weeks, we’ve been taking an intensive look at the voting dynamics at the Illinois Supreme Court in civil cases. Today, we further probe our tentative conclusions by looking for swing votes on the Court. How often was each Justice in the majority when the Court was divided?
The data largely confirms
Agreement Rates at the Illinois Supreme Court, 2000-2004 (Part II)
Last week, we began our study of voting dynamics on the Illinois Supreme Court since 2000 by looking at agreement rates in non-unanimous civil cases between 2000-2004. Once again, to minimize extreme swings from one year to the next, we report three-year floating averages.
With two plurality voting blocs on the Court during these years,
Agreement Rates at the Illinois Supreme Court, 2000-2004 (Part I)
Finally, we reach the most important information of all about the Court from the viewpoint of an appellate lawyer: data about the Justices’ voting patterns. Because unanimity rates overstate the degree of agreement on the Court, we focus on voting patterns in the Court’s non-unanimous civil decisions. Because the number of non-unanimous civil decisions in
The Justices’ Dissents at the Illinois Supreme Court, 2010-2014
Last week, we began the final phase of our review of the Justices’ opinion writing with a look at the majority and concurring opinions for the years 2010 through 2014. Today, we turn to the Justices’ dissents.
Between 2010 and 2014, the Justices filed dissents at a comparable rate to the 2005-2009 period. Chief Justice
The Justices’ Special Concurrences at the Illinois Supreme Court, 2010-2014
Special concurrences have become slightly less common on the Court recently, but this is not an indication of any increase in the level of agreement among the Justices. On the contrary, as we noted above, the unanimity rate drifted somewhat lower during much of this period. Rather, most of the decrease is attributable to Justice
The Justices’ Majority Opinions at the Illinois Supreme Court, 2010-2014
Last week, we took a close look at the individual Justices’ special concurrences and dissents in civil cases between 2005 and 2009. Today, we turn to the opinions written by the Justices during the most recent five years of our study period, 2010-2014.
Justice Burke was the most frequent voice of the Court during the
The Justices’ Dissents at the Illinois Supreme Court, 2005-2009
Yesterday, we continued our close look at the Justices’ writing during our second five year period with a review of the special concurrences between 2005 and 2009. Today, we turn to the Justices’ dissents.
Given that special concurrences are generally written to express at least mild disagreement with the majority’s views, it is not surprising
The Justices’ Special Concurrences at the Illinois Supreme Court, 2005-2009
Last week, we continued our close look at the individual Justices’ writing with a review of the majority opinions in civil cases between 2005 and 2009. This week, we consider which Justices wrote the longest and shortest (and most frequent) special concurrences and dissents during those years.
Between 2005 and 2009, Justice Kilbride wrote the
The Justices’ Majority Opinions at the Illinois Supreme Court, 2005-2009
Yesterday, we concluded our review of the individual Justices’ writing between 2000 and 2004 with a look at the dissents. Today, we turn to the majority opinions between 2005 and 2009.
With the election of Justice Lloyd Karmeier in 2004, the Court shifted from a 5-2 to a 4-3 majority for Justices elected as Democrats.