University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - The Trail …to North Carolina’s appellate court...
Transcript of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - The Trail …to North Carolina’s appellate court...
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The Trail and the Bench:
Elections and Their Effect on Opinion Writing in the North Carolina Court of Appeals
By
Adam Chase Parker
A paper submitted to the faculty of
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
Master of Public Administration
Spring 2010
This paper represents work done by a UNC-Chapel Hill Master of Public Administration student.
It is not a formal report of the School of Government, nor is it the work of School of Government
faculty.
Executive Summary
This study examines opinion writing in the North Carolina Court of Appeals from 2005 to 2008
to determine whether judicial productivity is affected in election years. The study contains
numerous findings, including that judges running for re-election to the court produce fewer
opinions than judges not facing re-election. The majority of this decrease is found in published
opinion writing (opinions that may be cited as precedent), while unpublished opinions (opinions
concerning settled law) do not show a significant decrease. Significant differences were not seen
in page lengths, dissents, case withdrawals, or case dismissals. Clearance rates fell for the entire
court in election years and non-election (“safe”) judges’ opinion writing outputs remained
consistent between election years and non-election years. Times from docket to opinion and oral
argument to opinion showed an annual decrease, election year or not. In the conclusion, potential
options for policymakers are discussed to address these productivity effects.
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Introduction
The establishment of the North Carolina Court of Appeals in 1965 was the most significant modification
to North Carolina’s appellate court system since the Constitution of 1868.1 The Court began hearing
appeals in 1967 with six judges, and since expanded to fifteen. Cases are heard and decided in panels of
three, unlike North Carolina’s Supreme Court (which hears cases before the entire court).
In the past decade, reform primarily concerned North Carolina’s judicial selection process. Restrictions
on judicial candidates’ speech changed2 in response to Republican Party of Minnesota v. White.
3
Campaign financing and voter education were central to the Judicial Campaign Reform Act of 2002,
which included public financing of appellate judicial campaigns, publication of a voter guide profiling
candidates, and campaign contribution limits of $1,000. This legislation resulted in America’s first
publicly funded judicial election program.4 These reforms and numerous others concentrate on what
candidates may say and spend, hoping to mitigate the effect of election pressures on judicial impartiality.
A consideration not as often debated is whether election cycles affect court productivity. North Carolina
Supreme Court Justice James Exum noted this widely held assumption over twenty years ago. “As it was,
the 1986 Fall Term of the North Carolina Supreme Court was severely disrupted. Incumbent justices
were forced to spend almost as much time campaigning as they did doing the business of the Court.”5
Appellate judges campaign statewide while tending to their court workloads. If Justice Exum’s statement
were correct, court productivity in election years versus non-election years would be markedly different.
This exploratory study aims to determine whether judicial productivity is quantitatively affected in
election years. The study uses four years of data from the North Carolina Court of Appeals (2005-2008)
and compares key judicial performance indicators across groups of judges, across years, and within each
year. After analysis, the study offers suggestions to address election pressures on court performance.
Court Caseloads and Opinion Writing
The National Center for State Courts operates the Court Statistics Project, which provides court
productivity measures for every state. The Court Statistics Project offers the number of cases per judge,
which indicates that North Carolina is providing its intermediate appellate court a reasonable caseload
compared to other states. In fiscal year 2006-2007, North Carolina Court of Appeals judges heard 166
cases per judge (including appealed cases and petitions). This value compared favorably with the national
median, 161 cases per judge.6
The National Center for State Courts provides suggested performance measures for courts, including
clearance rate, time to disposition, and age of active pending caseload. Clearance rate is defined as the
number of outgoing cases as a percentage of the number of incoming cases.7 Time to disposition is the
percentage of cases resolved within established timeframes. Age of active pending caseload shows the
age of current cases from filing until the time of measurement.8 Further measures are provided, which
consider juror use, cost per case, employee satisfaction, case file integrity, trial date certainty, and access
and fairness considerations.
The Court Statistics Project does not consider opinion writing in detail. Opinions are the primary output
of appellate courts. Opinions are time-consuming, multi-faceted court decisions penned by judges to
decide a case. Opinions typically require oral argument, where judges explore issues with the parties
before opinions are written. Opinions in North Carolina can be published or unpublished, where
published opinions establish binding precedent and unpublished opinions apply existing law to the
appealed case (but cannot usually be applied as precedent). The type of opinion, published or
unpublished, may indicate opinion difficulty. Further, dissents in the North Carolina Court of Appeals
automatically engender review by the North Carolina Supreme Court, but represent additional work for
Court of Appeals judges.
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Court statistics also do not control for whether a judge is facing external pressures that could affect work
performance, such as elections. This study begins filling these gaps in court statistics study through
analysis and comparison of judges’ opinion writing activity in election years and non-election years.
Methodology and Findings
Data Source
This study used a database of docket sheets obtained from the Information Technology Department of the
North Carolina Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. This database contained 8,313 entries of Court of
Appeals docket sheets from 2004 to 2008. Between 2005 and 2008, 6,611 cases were docketed, 5,965
opinions were written, 430 cases were withdrawn, and 554 cases were dismissed (several cases remained
unresolved from the 2008 docket). Each docket sheet provided a docket number, docket date, case title,
opinion date, opinion author, dissents, concurrences, the number of pages in the opinion, oral argument
date, whether the opinion was published or unpublished, withdrawn or dismissed date, and whether the
case is considered “complete.” Not every variable is present in each docket sheet (for example, not every
opinion has a concurrence or dissent). The data was sorted and analyzed to examine trends.
Data Groupings
Candidate and Safe Judges: Groupings were created to compare the productivity of judges seeking
election (hereafter “candidate" judges) and those who were not (hereafter “safe” judges) within the four-
year period of 2005-2008. In 2006, two judges sought re-election to the North Carolina Court of Appeals,
and three judges sought election to the North Carolina Supreme Court. Assuming election pressures of a
Supreme Court seat are comparable, these three judges were considered candidates. This brought the total
number of candidates in 2006 to five. In 2008, five judges ran for re-election to the Court of Appeals, and
no other offices were sought. 2006 and 2008 were combined to create ten candidates. Safe judges were
totaled at eight judges in 2005, ten in 2006, seven in 2007, and ten in 2008.
Candidates in Non-Election Years: To compare candidates’ activity to the same judges’ activity in non-
election years, judges were flagged as candidates in non-election years. In 2005, seven judges who ran for
election at one point in the four-year study period sat on the court. In 2007, eight judges who ran for
election in the four-year study period sat on the court.
Election and Non-Election Years: Two years (2006 and 2008) of docket information were used to create
the “election years” category. 2005 and 2007 were used for “non-election years.”
Units of Analysis: To standardize comparisons, average outputs were used. For example, the population
of candidates in election years is ten (five judges in 2006 and five in 2008), and in election years, they
wrote 279 published opinions. This creates an average of 27.9 published opinions per judge in election
years. Additional statistical significance tests were performed on page lengths, docket to opinion days,
and oral argument to opinion days.
Court Panels: Each case is decided in a panel of three judges, although each case panel was not provided
in the data set. Additionally, cases without an opinion were not identified with a particular judge, meaning
withdrawn and dismissed cases could only be analyzed at the entire court level.
Entire Court Comparisons (Full tables, graphs provided in Appendix A).
Clearance rates are reduced in election years, but trend upward over time. Clearance rates were
calculated for the entire court only in this study (each case isn’t assigned to a single judge). Courts
often identify 100 percent clearance rates as a goal (or the ratio of dispositions to new cases is equal).
In election years, the court’s clearance rate is 6.24% less than non-election years. A dip in the
clearance rate occurs from July to September in all years. This decrease coincides with a court recess
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from the second week in June to the first week in August. The table below provides a visual
representation of the clearance rate decrease in election years as the year progresses.
The court writes fewer opinions in election years, while page lengths appear similar. The court wrote
4.33 fewer opinions per judge in election years than in non-election years (or 4.26 percent fewer
opinions). Election year opinions are slightly longer (.21 more pages, P-value of .08, t-value of 1.36).
Unpublished opinions change little, while published opinions decrease. The gap in opinions per judge
is seen mostly in the number of published opinions. In election years, judges wrote 4.24 fewer
published opinions than in non-election years (or 11.2 percent less), but only .37 fewer unpublished
opinions in election years than non-election years.
Dissents increase slightly, while withdrawals and dismissals stay consistent. Dissents were greater in
non-election years, with 1.36 more dissents per judge. Withdrawn cases were greater in election years
per judge (1.13 more in election years), while dismissals were greater in non-election years than in
election years (1.86 more per judge).
Evidence does not prove that opinions are delivered faster in election years than non-election years.
Cases in non-election years take longer from docket to opinion (21.66 days longer than election years,
or 7.4 percent longer, P-value of 4.22E-23, t-value of 9.9), while time from oral argument to opinion
was remarkably similar (.06 more days, P-value of .97, t-value of .034). However, docket to opinion
time also decreased each consecutive year, suggesting a different cause than election cycles.
Total docketed cases varied slightly across years. In 2005, 1,654 cases were docketed, 2006 saw
1,735 cases, 2007 showed 1,642 cases, and 2008 had 1,580 docketed cases.
Candidates (Full tables, graphs provided in Appendix B)
Candidates write fewer opinions in election years than safe judges. Candidates wrote, on average,
11.7 fewer opinions than safe judges in election years (or 11.5 percent fewer opinions) and 7.6 fewer
than the entire court average (7.8 percent fewer opinions). Candidates wrote 7.03 fewer opinions than
the same judges wrote in non-election years (7.26 percent fewer opinions).
Published opinions show the greatest decrease in the candidates group. The major difference is seen
in published opinions. Candidate judges wrote 9.7 fewer opinions on average than safe judges in
election years (25.79 percent fewer published opinions). Candidates wrote 7.23 fewer published
opinions per judge than the same judges wrote in non-election years (20.6 percent fewer).
Docket to opinion and argument to opinion show the same tendencies as the entire court. In cases
written by candidates, docket to opinion days fell by an average of 29.31 in election years compared
to the same group in non-election years (P-value of 5.99E-19, t-value of -8.98). Candidates’ opinions
were completed an average of 15.51 days faster than the entire court average and 22.43 days faster
Entire Court Clearance Rate
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than the safe judges in election years. A decrease of 2.42 days occurred in the time from oral
argument to opinion (P-value of .324, t-value of -.986).
Candidates wrote fewer opinions as the May primary and November general elections drew closer.
As the following graph shows, candidates wrote fewer opinions as the May primary and November
general election draw closer. Candidates’ non-election year opinions stayed relatively constant, with
increases in April and August.
Average Opinions Per Month – Candidate Judges (10 total in 2006+2008, 15 total in 2005+2007)
Safe Judges (Full tables, graphs provided in Appendix C)
As a group, there was a less pronounced difference in the performance of safe judges between
election years and non-election years. Safe judges wrote 4.0 more opinions in election years than
non-election years. Their opinions were .23 pages longer in non-election years (P-value of .62, t-value
of .48), and they wrote .4 fewer dissents in non-election years. Docket to opinion length shows a
similar decrease as other groupings (22.05 more days in non-election years, P-value of 7.76E-14, t-
value of -7.5). Oral argument to opinion took 3.93 days longer in election years than non-election
years (P-value of .32, t-value of -.981).
Safe judges write 8.7 more opinions than candidates in non-election years. This may indicate a
population difference between candidate judges and safe judges, spillover of election pressures into
non-election years, or another unanticipated factor.
Safe judges do not exhibit the May primary or November general election drop-off. As the graph
below illustrates, safe judges showed no sign of a May primary decrease, nor as severe a decrease in
November when compared to non-election years.
Average Opinions Per Month – Safe Judges (20 total in 2006+2008, 30 total in 2005+2007)
Limitations
This study is limited to a quantitative assessment of productivity, which is only one element of a
successful court. Other potential considerations of the North Carolina Court of Appeals (complexity of
cases, etc.) are not addressed and are important measures of productivity. Qualitative study should be
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conducted (including possible judicial performance evaluations conducted by the North Carolina Bar
Association)9. Informal interviews with Court of Appeals judges suggested safe judges tend to aid
candidate peers by helping with special panels and other items that do not appear in productivity
measures. Qualitative study may bring these additional work processes into focus. The study also does not
account for the quality of staff counsel, clerks, and research assistants who aid in case disposition.
Conclusion
This study shows productivity decreases in election years. In election years, candidate judges write fewer
opinions than safe judges and their opinion writing decreases occur around significant election events.
Candidate judges’ opinion writing decreased sharply around March and April, precisely when judges
campaign hardest to qualify for public financing. Other indicators show a minute difference (page lengths,
dissents), or no clear relationship (length of time between docket/oral argument and opinion). This study
cannot explain a gap between candidate judge and safe judge opinion writing in non-election years (a
difference of eight opinions, on average).
Whether the shown difference is significant enough to warrant further judicial reforms is a decision for
North Carolina lawmakers. All study years are after the 2002 Judicial Reform Act in North Carolina. In
the years before this reform, disposition rates trended below filing rates.10
This trend has reversed, with a
string of successive years with above 100 percent clearance rates. There is also a trend indicating opinions
are being completed faster each successive year. These trends may be attributable to in-house reforms
enacted since the current Chief Judge assumed office in 2004. This time decrease occurs before oral
arguments, which suggests briefs and court procedures are completed faster than in years past.
If policymakers choose to further alter judicial selection, judicial appointments will likely be discussed.
The 1989 North Carolina Judicial Selection Study Commission argued that judges should be appointed by
the Governor and later reconfirmed by the General Assembly.11
The study posited numerous reasons for
an appointive system, including how election pressures compel judges to avoid “legally correct but
politically unpopular decisions.”12
The study commission offered unsuccessful legislation to move to
appointments, which required a constitutional amendment. Numerous public surveys in North Carolina
have found a move away from elected judges is unpopular13
, even as voters profess ignorance about the
judges they select.14
A lack of public support and the requirement of popular vote approval make a move
to appointment difficult to accomplish.
These pressures could be addressed in other ways, including the use of “retired” judges or mediation.
Currently, the Court of Appeals employs four “retired” judges (also called emergency judges). These
judges are used sparingly (for example when a judge is appointed to a higher court and a vacancy exists).
Further use of these judges to alleviate election judges’ caseloads may reduce the impact of elections on
Court of Appeals judges. Further use of mediation might alleviate caseloads at the Court of Appeals as
well. Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution that brings parties together to craft a settlement.
Mediation is already performed at the Court of Appeals,15
and does not require judicial opinions to settle
disputes. Mediation may reduce opinion-writing demands of judges, especially unpublished decisions
regarding settled law. Further use of mediation would likely require additional resources.
Qualitative study of judicial productivity in the North Carolina Court of Appeals is needed. This study
shows a quantitative difference in the number of opinions in election years versus non-election years, but
does not consider other intangible measures of court productivity. Judicial Performance Evaluations may
provide a window into this qualitative component. In-depth interviews with judges, court officials, and
other parties involved in the appeals process would further inform how the courts’ business is affected.
Textual analysis of opinions written by election judges may yield valuable insights as well. Regardless of
method, qualitative contributions to the study of appellate court productivity would be a welcome
addition and help inform policymakers should they pursue further court reforms.
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1 Britt, David. History of the Court of Appeals of North Carolina July 1967-October 1992. (1992). p. 2
2 See Order Adopting Amendments to the North Carolina Code of Judicial Conduct, (Apr. 2, 2003), available at
http://www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/public/aoc/NCJudicialCode.pdf [hereinafter 2003 Judicial Code of Amendments] 3 Matthew Eisley, Code Loosesns Grip on Judges, News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), September 20, 2003, at 1B.
4 Rogers, Philip, Stenberg, Carl, and Waterman, Sarah. Voter Owned Elections in North Carolina: Public Financing
of Campaigns. Popular Government. Vol. 74, No. 2, Winter 2009 (p. 36). Available at
http://www.sog.unc.edu/pubs/electronicversions/pg/pgwin09/article1.pdf 5 Chief Justice James G. Exum, Jr. to the Judicial Selection Study Committee, 15 April 1988. Judicial Selection and
Retention in North Carolina. (page 6). 6 National Center for State Courts. Court Statistics Project: Appellate Courts, 2007 report.
http://www.ncsconline.org/d_research/csp/CSP_Main_Page.html. Accessed Jan. 18, 2010 7 National Center for State Courts. Courtools: Measure 2: Clearance Rates.
http://www.ncsconline.org/D_Research/CourTools/Images/courtools_measure2.pdf. Accessed Jan 18, 2010. (p.1) 8 National Center for State Courts. Courtools: The Ten Core Measures.
http://www.ncsconline.org/D_Research/CourTools/Images/10%20index.pdf. Feb. 3, 2010. (p.1) 9 JPE Recommendations On Schedule for 2010. http://www.ncbar.org/about/communications/nc-lawyer/2009-nc-
lawyer-editions/novemberdecember-2009/jpe-recommendations-on-schedule-for-2010.aspx. Accessed Jan 18, 2010. 10
North Carolina Courts: 2000 Annual Report. Accessed Jan. 24, 2010. (p. 12)
http://www.nccourts.org/Citizens/Publications/Documents/annrep00.pdf 11
JUDICIAL SELECTION STUDY COMMISSION: : Report to the Governor, Chief Justice, Attorney General and
the 1989 General Assembly of North Carolina -- Judicial Selection Study Commission (p. 4-5) 12
JUDICIAL SELECTION STUDY COMMISSION: : Report to the Governor, Chief Justice, Attorney General and
the 1989 General Assembly of North Carolina -- Judicial Selection Study Commission (p. 5) 13
Heagarty, J. Christopher. Public Opinion and an Elected Judiciary: New Avenues for Reform. 39, Williamette
Law Review .1299. 1287-1312. (2003) (public opinion and judicial selection) 14
Heagarty, J. Christopher. Public Opinion and an Elected Judiciary: New Avenues for Reform. 39, Williamette
Law Review .1298. 1287-1312. (2003) (public opinion and judicial selection) 15
North Carolina Court System: Mediation. Accessed Jan. 24, 2010.
http://www.nccourts.org/Courts/Appellate/Appeal/Mediation/Default.asp
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Appendix A: Entire Court
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Entire Court
Year(s)
Cle
aran
ce
Rat
e
Op
inio
ns
per
Jud
ge
Ave
rage
Op
inio
n P
age
Len
gth
Pu
blis
hed
per
Jud
ge
Un
pu
blis
hed
per
Jud
ge
#Dis
sen
ts p
er ju
dge
#Wit
hd
raw
n p
er ju
dge
#Dis
mis
sed
per
jud
ge
Ave
rage
Tim
e o
f D
ock
etto
Op
inio
n
Ave
rage
Tim
eO
ral
Arg
um
ent
to O
pin
ion
2005103.72% 99.53 9.79 38.06 61.46 7.53 5.3 12.2 328.13 82.49
2006 101.99% 98.46 9.59 31.86 66.6 6.26 8.2 9.73 298.96 69.68
2007 114.15% 103.73 9.96 37.53 66.2 7.2 7.86 8.3 282.73 67.71
2008 103.06% 95.6 10.60 35.26 60.3 5.73 7.26 7.06 266.73 80.26
Election Years (06+08)102.51% 97.3 10.09 33.56 63.46 6 7.73 8.4 283.08 74.89
Non-Election Years(05+07)
108.75% 101.63 9.88 37.8 63.83 7.36 6.6 10.3 304.74 74.95
Difference(05+07) net (06+08)
Non-Elec. net Election
6.24% 4.33 -0.21 4.24 0.37 1.36 -1.13 1.9 21.66 0.06
P-Value (Two-Tail Test).086 4.22E-23 .972
T-Value (Two-Tail Test)1.364 9.939 .034
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Entire Court (# Opinions/Month)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Election 260 275 268 246 274 229 262 238 154 242 187 276
Non-Election 193 211 220 282 260 288 278 324 225 228 266 274
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
Election
Non-Election
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Entire Court Clearance Rate
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
All Years 87.90% 93.78% 94.60% 107.28% 101.69% 106.55% 133.05% 97.74% 82.40% 110.94% 133.17% 137.39%
Election Year 109.86% 107.61% 83.06% 106.32% 118.11% 98.14% 128.81% 84.47% 70.88% 98.95% 113.92% 128.69%
Non-Election Year 69.35% 80.72% 112.55% 108.16% 88.31% 114.19% 137.50% 110.23% 93.77% 126.11% 151.47% 147.34%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
110%
120%
130%
140%
150%
160%
All Years
Election Year
Non-Election Year
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Appendix B: Candidate Judges
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Judges Facing Re-Election or Seeking Supreme Court Seat (Candidates)
Year(s)
Op
inio
ns
per
Jud
ge
Ave
rage
Op
inio
n P
age
Len
gth
Pu
blis
hed
per
Jud
ge
Un
pu
blis
hed
per
Jud
ge
#Dis
sen
ts p
er ju
dge
Ave
rage
Tim
e o
f D
ock
etto
Op
inio
n
Ave
rage
Tim
eO
ral
Arg
um
ent
to O
pin
ion
2005 (7)105.29 9.58 41.86 63.4 10 318.5 75.63
2006 (5) 85.4 8.92 23.6 61.8 4.2 295.33 69.54
2007 (8) 89.25 9.65 29.25 60 8.25 274.57 60.62
2008 (5) 94 10.44 32.2 61.8 7.8 242.35 62.44
Non- Election Years(05+07) (15)
96.73 9.62 35.13 61.6 9.06 296.88 68.24
Election Years(06+08)
89.7 9.72 27.9 61.8 6 267.57 65.82
Difference(05+07) net (06+08)
Non-Elec. net Election
7.03 -0.1 7.23 -0.2 3.06 29.31 2.42
P-Value (Two-Tail Test) .683 5.99E-19 .324
T-Value (Two-Tail Test) .408 -8.984 -.986
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Candidate Judges (# Opinions/Month) Per Judge
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Election Year 7.90 7.70 11.30 4.50 8.70 9.00 6.60 6.80 4.40 6.70 5.90 10.20
Non-Election Year 7.33 5.87 7.53 10.73 7.07 8.13 7.73 10.00 7.53 7.33 7.73 7.30
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
Election Year
Non-Election Year
(Adjusted for # of Judges)
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Appendix C: Safe Judges
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Judges Not Facing Re-Election or Seeking Supreme Court Seats (Safe Judges)
Year(s)
Op
inio
ns
per
Jud
ge
Ave
rage
Op
inio
n P
age
Len
gth
Pu
blis
hed
per
Jud
ge
Un
pu
blis
hed
per
Jud
ge
#Dis
sen
tsp
er ju
dge
Ave
rage
Tim
e o
f D
ock
etto
Op
inio
n
Ave
rage
Tim
eO
ral
Arg
um
ent
to O
pin
ion
2005 94.5 10 34.75 59.75 5.375 337.52 89.17
2006 105 9.87 36 69 7.3 300.44 69.73
2007 117.85 10.3 46.29 71.57 6 288.71 73.7
2008 96.4 10.68 36.8 59.6 4.7 278.62 88.95
Election Years (06+08) 101.4 9.87 37.6 63.73 6 290 78.93
Non-Election Years(05+07)
105.4 10.1 40.13 65.26 5.6 312.05 81.1
Difference(05+07) net (06+08)
Non-Elec. net Election
4 .23 2.53 1.53 -.4 22.05 2.17
P-Value (Two-Tail Test).62 7.76E-14 .32
T-Value (Two-Tail Test).48 -7.5 -.981
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Safe Judges (# Opinions/Month)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Election Year 9.05 9.90 7.75 10.05 9.35 6.95 9.80 8.50 5.50 8.75 6.40 8.70
Non-Election Year 6.43 7.03 7.33 9.40 8.67 9.60 9.27 10.80 7.50 7.57 8.70 9.10
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
Election Year
Non-Election Year
(Adjusted for # of Judges)
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Appendix D: Comparison Tables
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Comparing Groups in Election Years (2006+2008)
Group
Op
inio
ns
per
Jud
ge
Ave
rage
Op
inio
n
Page
Len
gth
Pu
blis
hed
per
Jud
ge
Un
pu
blis
hed
per
Jud
ge
#Dis
sen
tsp
er
jud
ge
Ave
rage
Tim
e o
f D
ock
etto
Op
inio
n
Ave
rage
Tim
eO
ral
Arg
um
ent
to
Op
inio
n
Entire Court 97.3 10.09 33.56 63.46 6 283.08 74.89
Candidate Judges 89.7 9.72 27.9 61.8 6 267.57 65.82
Difference (Entire Court –Candidate)
7.6 0.37 5.66 1.66 0 15.51 9.07
Entire Court 97.3 10.09 33.56 63.46 6 283.08 74.89
Safe Judges 101.4 9.87 37.6 63.73 6 290 78.93
Difference(Entire Court – Safe)
-4.1 0.22 -4.04 -0.27 0 -6.92 -4.04
Safe Judges 101.4 9.87 37.6 63.73 6 290 78.93
Candidate Judges 89.7 9.72 27.9 61.8 6 267.57 65.82
Difference(Safe net Candidate)
11.7 0.15 9.7 1.93 0 22.43 13.11
P-Value (Two Tail Test).023 3.26E-12 9.35E-08
T-Value (Two Tail Test) -2.27 -7.00 -5.36
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Comparing Groups in Non-Election Years (2005+2007)
Group
Op
inio
ns
per
Jud
ge
Ave
rage
Op
inio
n
Page
Len
gth
Pu
blis
hed
per
Jud
ge
Un
pu
blis
hed
per
Jud
ge
#Dis
sen
ts p
er
jud
ge
Ave
rage
Tim
e o
f D
ock
etto
Op
inio
n
Ave
rage
Tim
eO
ral
Arg
um
ent
to
Op
inio
n
Entire Court 101.63 9.88 37.8 63.83 7.36 304.74 74.95
Candidate Judges 96.73 9.62 35.13 61.6 9.06 296.88 68.24
Difference (Entire Court –Candidate)
4.9 0.26 2.67 2.23 -1.7 7.86 6.71
Safe Judges 105.4 10.1 40.13 65.26 5.6 312.05 81.1
Candidate Judges 96.73 9.62 35.13 61.6 9.06 296.88 68.24
Difference(Safe - Candidate)
8.67 .48 5 3.66 -3.46 15.17 12.86
P-Value (Two-Tail Test) .009 4.8E-07 1.01E-08
T-Value (Two-Tail Test) 2.58 5.04 5.74
Entire Court 101.63 9.88 37.8 63.83 7.36 304.74 74.95
Safe Judges 105.4 10.1 40.13 65.26 5.6 312.05 81.1
Difference (Entire Court – Safe)
-3.77 -.22 -2.33 -1.43 1.76 -7.31 -6.15