Today, we begin a new series of posts, looking for patterns in the questions from each member of the Illinois Supreme Court during oral arguments in civil cases. We begin with Justice Anne M. Burke.
In analyzing an oral argument, we’re interested in two facts about the individual Justices: how is the Justice voting, and
Yesterday, we reviewed the year-by-year question patterns data for the Justices of the Illinois Supreme Court for the final four years of our study period, from 2011 to 2014. Today, we turn to a different question.
On September 24, 2015, the Supreme Court had its most recent decision day, handing down nine civil opinions:
Stevens
Last week, we continued our analysis of the Illinois Supreme Court’s oral arguments in civil cases between 2008 and 2014. We reported the year-by-year data for each Justice’s questions in each segment of oral argument between 2008 and 2010. Today, we look at the yearly data for the past four years, 2011-2014.
For 2011, Justice
Yesterday, we assessed how often each Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court asked the first question in each segment of the argument. Today, we address the year-by-year data.
Table 67 is the yearly data for 2008. Then-Chief Justice Fitzgerald is the second most frequent first questioner behind Justice Thomas. The third most frequent first questioner
Last week, we began our analysis of the individual Justices’ questioning patterns in oral arguments at the Illinois Supreme Court by looking at the Justices’ total questions, and average questions for each of the three segments of the argument. Today, we ask a related question – how likely is each Justice to ask the first
Yesterday, we began reviewing the Justice-by-Justice question totals at the Illinois Supreme Court. Today, we look at per-case averages for the Justices.
Below we see the average total questions per argument by Justice. Justice Thomas averages 9.67 questions per argument. Justice Fitzgerald is not far behind, averaging 7.14 questions per argument, with Justice Theis averaging
Last week, we looked at whether the Appellate Court district from which an appeal arises affects the overall level of questions at oral argument before the Illinois Supreme Court. Today, we begin a new phase of our analysis, turning to the individual Justices’ question patterns.
We start with the most basic question of all: which
Yesterday, we analyzed whether cases involving a dissent at the Appellate Court averaged more questions at the Illinois Supreme Court. The data suggested that appellees tended to get somewhat more questions when the lower court was divided.
Today we turn to a different question: do decisions from certain districts of the Appellate Court tend to
Last week, we took a break from our data analytics work on the Illinois Supreme Court’s oral arguments between 2008 and 2014 for a statistical preview of two big cases from the upcoming September term. Today we resume our statistical search for indicators of what kinds of cases are more likely to spark heavier questioning
Today we continue our statistical preview of the Illinois Supreme Court’s upcoming September term with State of lllinois v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31. AFSCME poses a question with potentially significant ramifications across a range of cases: are the State’s contractual promises in contracts with its employee unions conditional on