Since joining the Court in 2018, Justice Neville has written sixteen opinions in civil cases – fifteen majority opinions and one dissent.  He wrote one majority in 2018, five in 2019, four in 2020 and five in 2021.  His only dissent was in 2020.

Justice Neville’s writing on the criminal law side reveals an unusual pattern: he has written more dissents than majority opinions.  Justice Neville has written eleven majority opinions: three in 2018, four in 2019, four in 2020.  He has written one concurrence in 2021.  But he has written twelve dissents – one each in 2018 and 2019…
Continue Reading Reviewing the Tenure of Justice P. Scott Neville (Part 2 of 6)

This week we begin our review of the next Justice in terms of seniority, Justice P. Scott Neville.
Justice Neville took his seat, replacing Justice Charles E.  Freeman, in 2018.  Since that time, he has participated in 89 civil cases – 14 in 2018, 31 in 2019, 23 in 2020 and 21 up to our cut-off point in 2021.

Justice Neville has participated in 82 criminal, quasi-criminal, mental health and juvenile justice cases.  He sat on 17 criminal cases in 2018, 18 in 2019, 28 in 2020 and 19 to our cut-off point in 2021.

Join us back here next…
Continue Reading Reviewing the Tenure of Justice P. Scott Neville (Part 1 of 6)

This time, we’re reviewing the areas of the criminal law where Justice Theis has written majority and dissenting opinions.
Justice Theis has written 54 majority opinions in criminal cases.  Thirteen involved constitutional law, and an even dozen involved criminal procedure.  Seven were in juvenile justice cases.  Five involved violent crimes.  Five were in habeas cases.  Four involved sentencing law.  Three majority opinions were in sex offense cases.  Two involved property crimes.  She has written one majority opinion each in cases involving mental health issues, drug offenses and driving offenses.

Justice Theis has written only eight dissents in criminal cases.  Three…
Continue Reading Reviewing the Tenure of Justice Mary Jane Theis (Part 6 of 6)

This time, we’ve reached the home stretch in our review of Justice Theis’ tenure.  In this post, we’re reviewing the areas of law in which she’s written civil majority and civil dissents.  Next time, we’ll be looking at the criminal side of the ledger.  And once again – the data for 2021 is still partial, since we halted the collection at the same time for all seven Justices’ profiles.
Justice Theis has written 51 majority opinions in civil cases.  Eleven were in tort cases.  Another 11 were in cases involving government and administrative law.  Justice Theis has written six opinions…
Continue Reading Reviewing the Tenure of Justice Mary Jane Theis (Part 5 of 6)

This time, we’re reviewing Justice Theis’ voting record.  In civil cases, Justice Theis has cast 141 votes to affirm, 151 votes to reverse and 49 split votes to affirm in part and reverse in part.  Justice Theis’ biggest year for affirmances was 2015 with 20; her lightest full year was 2012 at 6.  2012 was also her heaviest year for reversals – he voted to reverse 24 times.  Her lightest full years were 2016 and 2018 at 9 each.

In criminal cases, Justice Theis has voted to affirm 153 times and to reverse 153 times, with 47 split votes.  Affirmances…
Continue Reading Reviewing the Tenure of Justice Mary Jane Theis (Part 3 of 6)

As our review of Justice Theis’ tenure continues, this time we’re assessing the degree to which Justice Theis is in sync with the majority of the Court by measuring her dissent rate.  In Table 1847, we report the fraction of civil cases, year by year, in which Justice Theis joined the majority.
Justice Theis’ highest rate for a full year was 2011, when she voted with the majority 97.06% of the time.  She fell below 90% three times – 2014 (88.89%), 2017 (88.46%) and 2019 (88.24%).  Overall since joining the Court, Justice Theis has joined the majority in 93.35% of…
Continue Reading Reviewing the Tenure of Justice Mary Jane Theis (Part 4 of 6)

This week, we’re beginning our review of the tenure of Justice Mary Jane Theis.  Justice Theis took her seat on the Supreme Court on October 26, 2010, after being elevated from the Appellate Court for the First District.
Before we begin a reminder – “agreement” for purposes of calculating agreement rates is defined as complete agreement – therefore, a Justice voting to affirm in part and reverse in part when the majority reverses entirely doesn’t count as agreement.  Cases are divided between civil and criminal per our usual practice – criminal should more properly be called “criminal, quasi-criminal, juvenile justice…
Continue Reading Reviewing the Tenure of Justice Mary Jane Theis (Part 1 of 6)

Since joining the Supreme Court in 2010, Justice Theis has written a total of 66 opinions – 51 majority opinions, three special concurrences and 12 dissents.  Her heaviest workload for majority opinions was in 2015, when she wrote seven.  Her heaviest year for civil dissents was 2019 with four (she wrote only five majority opinions that year).

Justice Theis has written 68 opinions in criminal cases – 54 majority opinions, six special concurrences and eight dissents.  Her heaviest workload for majorities was in 2012, 2013 and 2017 when she wrote seven per year.  She wrote three criminal dissents in 2013,…
Continue Reading Reviewing the Tenure of Justice Mary Jane Theis (Part 2 of 6)

In these concluding posts, we’re reviewing the majority and dissenting opinions written by the Chief Justice.
Just over half of the Chief Justice’s majority opinions in civil cases have related to one of three areas of law: tort (17 opinions), civil procedure (16 opinions) and government and administrative law (13 opinions).  She has written eleven majorities on constitutional law, six on employment law, four on insurance law, three involving domestic relations, two each in contract law and wills and estates, and one apiece in environmental law, tax law, workers compensation and secured transactions.

The most common area of law in…
Continue Reading Reviewing the Tenure of Chief Justice Anne Burke (Part 5 of 6)

Chief Justice Burke has written seventy majority opinions in criminal cases.  Her most frequent topic is criminal procedure, with seventeen majorities.  She has written sixteen opinions on constitutional law and ten involving sentencing issues.  She’s written eight majorities involving violent crime issues, seven in habeas corpus cases and six in juvenile justice cases.  She’s written three majority opinions in cases involving sex offenses and one each in death penalty, property crimes and process crimes cases.

In contrast to her record in civil cases, the Chief Justice has dissented fairly often in criminal cases – 44 dissents to compare to her…
Continue Reading Reviewing the Tenure of Chief Justice Anne Burke (Part 6 of 6)

Today, we’re reviewing Chief Justice Anne Burke’s voting record.  In civil cases, she has voted to affirm outright 205 times.  She has cast split votes – affirm in part, reverse in part – 73 times.  She has voted to reverse 225 times.  Chief Justice Burke’s heaviest year with affirm votes was 2020 – 35 votes.  Her lightest full year was 2012, when she voted to affirm only 7 times.  Her heaviest years for split votes were 2009 and 2012 at 8.  Her heaviest year for reversals was 2012 at 24; her lightest full year was 2016 at 8.

In criminal…
Continue Reading Reviewing the Tenure of Chief Justice Anne Burke (Part 3 of 6)

Today, we’re in the fourth part of our six-part review of the tenure of Chief Justice Anne Burke.  Today’s question – how often is the Chief Justice part of the majority?
Across her entire tenure, the Chief Justice has been in the majority in 93.39% of all civil cases she has participated in.  She has reached 100% four times – 2006, 2016, 2019 and so far in 2021 (until our cut-off point).  She has fallen below 90% only four times – 2010 (87.5%), 2013 (81.25%), 2014 (88.46%), and 2017 (84.62%).  Including the four perfect scores, she has been at 95%…
Continue Reading Reviewing the Tenure of Chief Justice Anne Burke (Part 4 of 6)