Last week, we offered some statistics for the Supreme Court’s 2023-2024 term (from September 1, 2023 to August 31, 2024), discussing data related to actions taken at the court’s conferences (also here). Today, we talk about the court’s opinions.

The court issued 58 opinions, slightly up from the previous term’s 55. 26 of the 58 opinions were in criminal cases, including 5 death penalty appeals; the other 32 were in civil cases.

The court was still generally harmonious, just not as much as during the 2022-2023 term. There was less agreement in criminal cases than in civil matters.

All seven justices concurred in 46 decisions (17 of the 26 criminal and 29 of the 32 civil), including 3 cases where two of the seven issued a concurring opinion and 1 case with a five-justice separate concurrence. That’s 79 percent of the court’s opinions. There were two other opinions with no dissent, but one justice didn’t sign the court’s opinion and filed a concurring opinion (in one case, joined by two of the six justices who did sign the court’s opinion). Adding those two cases yields an 83 percent no-dissent rate. In the previous term, the seven-justice-opinion rate was 91 percent and the no-dissent rate was 93 percent.

There were 10 decisions with dissents, 8 in criminal cases and 2 in civil cases. Only one was a 4-3 decision (a criminal case), 8 (6 criminal and 2 civil) were 5-2 cases (including three matters that also featured a two-justice or one-justice separate concurrence), and 1 (a criminal case) was a 6-1 decision. 3 of the 5 death penalty appeals had 5-2 splits; the other 2 were unanimous.

Here are individual justice statistics:

Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero wrote 13 opinions for the court (7 criminal, including two death penalty cases; 6 civil). All of the civil opinions were 7-0, as were 5 of the criminal. 2 were 5-2 decisions, including one where there was also a separate concurrence. She also authored one dissent, signed another justice’s dissent, and joined a separate concurring opinion. (See: Chief Justice Guerrero’s dissent this week is a novelty and here.)

Justice Carol Corrigan wrote 8 opinions for the court (4 criminal, including one death penalty case; 4 civil). Her civil opinions were all 7-0 opinions, with one including a two-justice concurrence. 1 of her criminal opinions was 4-3, 2 were 5-2 (including her death penalty opinion), and 1 garnered all her colleagues’ signatures but with a five-justice separate concurring opinion. She wrote one concurring opinion (in a criminal case) and signed 2 other concurrences (1 criminal and 1 civil).

Justice Goodwin Liu wrote 8 opinions for the court (3 criminal; 5 civil). All were 7-0 decisions. He also authored 5 dissents (4 criminal, including 2 in death penalty cases; 1 civil) and 2 concurring opinions (both criminal). He signed 3 other dissents and one other concurrence, all in criminal cases.

Justice Leondra Kruger wrote 10 opinions for the court (4 criminal, including one death penalty case; 6 civil). All her civil opinions were 7-0. Two of the criminal opinions were signed by all the justices, although one had a two-justice concurrence. The other two criminal decisions, including the death penalty opinion, were 5-2. She also wrote one concurring and dissenting opinion (in a criminal case) and 3 concurring opinions (all in civil cases). She signed a concurring opinion in a criminal case.

Justice Joshua Groban wrote 6 opinions for the court (3 criminal and 3 civil). 5 of the 6 were 7-0 decisions. One (in a criminal case) was a 6-0 opinion with a one-justice concurrence. He wrote 2 dissents (1 criminal and 1 civil) and 2 concurrences (also 1 criminal and 1 civil). He signed three concurring opinions (1 criminal; 2 civil).

Justice Martin Jenkins wrote 5 opinions for the court (2 criminal and 3 civil). 1 criminal and 2 civil opinions were 7-0 decisions. 1 criminal opinion was 6-1 and 1 civil opinion was 5-2 with a two-justice concurrence. He wrote no separate opinions, but signed 2 concurring opinions (1 criminal; 1 civil) and 1 concurring and dissenting opinion (in a criminal case).

Justice Kelli Evans wrote 8 opinions for the court (3 criminal, including one death penalty case; 5 civil). Her criminal opinions were all 7-0 opinions, with one including a two-justice concurrence that she herself signed. 3 of her civil opinions were 7-0 decisions, one was a 6-0 decision with a three-justice concurrence, and one was a 5-2 decision with a two-justice concurrence. [October 10 update: I neglected to note that Justice Evans also authored 5 separate opinions, all in criminal cases (4 dissents and 1 concurrence) and that she signed 2 concurring opinions (both in criminal cases, including the one concurring in the opinion she wrote for the court) and 2 dissents (1 criminal and 1 civil).]

Related:

The 2022-2023 term in numbers — Part 2, and the Supreme Court’s year in review