State Supreme Courts

1. The Appeals Process
   1. Appellant files a notice of appeal
   2. Appellant files trial court record
   3. Appellant and "appellee" file briefs
   4. Oral argument (in some courts)
   5. Judges decide
   1. collegial court
   2. en banc vs. panels
   6. Possible dispositions
   1. affirm
   2. modify
   3. reverse
   4. reverse and remand
   5. remand
   
   
   
   
2. Institutional setting
1. Three different contexts
1. Type I: low population state, no intermediate appellate court, light caseload
2. Type II: moderate to large state, no court of appeals, high case load
3. Type III: intermediate appellate court and discretion to select cases
2. Mandatory vs. discretionary jurisdiction
3. Judicial Selection mechanisms
4. Internal workings
   
   
   
3. Business of state supreme courts
1. Changing patterns over time

   	1870-1900	1905-1935	1940-1970
   debt	26%	19%	8%
   other contract	3	5	3
   real property	21	15	11
   corp. partnerships	3	2	1
   torts	10	16	22
   criminal law	11	12	18
   public law	12	13	19
   family & estates	8	10	12

2. Type III courts have more
1. constitutional cases
2. criminal cases
3. public law cases
3. Type III courts differ in other ways
1. opinions tend to be longer
2. more likely to reverse lower court
3. more dissent
4. more likely to be cited by other SSCs
   
   
   
4. Party Identification
1. Inconsistent patterns
2. Nature of party conflict over judicial selection
3. Nature of "political" tradition
   
   
   
5. Institutional effects on case outcomes
   1. Problem of comparable cases
   2. Death penalty appeals from 8 states (CA, IL, KY, LA, NJ, NC, OH, TX)
   3. Influential factors:
      1. Judge's party
      2. Party Competition
      3. Judges selected through election
      4. Specific statutory provisions
         
         
6. Possible impact of gender
1. Women justices more supportive of "pro-woman" position on on women's issues
2. Presence of a woman increased support on such issues by male justices
3. Women justices as "outsiders"
   
   
   
7. Dissent Rates
1. Changing patterns
   
   

   	1966	1974-75	1980-81
   above 60%	none	FL	none
   50-55%	none	none	CA
   49-49%	MI PA NY	LA FL	LA FL ID
   30-39%	OH CA	PA	OK OH PA NJ WA
   20-29%	FL OK SD	8 states	10 states
   under 20%	42 states	39 states	31 states
   WISCONSIN	8%	9%	15%

2. Dissent rate higher when there is IAC
3. Dissent rate also related to
1. social heterogeniety
2. political competition
3. size of court
   
   

   	Court Size
   p of dissent	3	5	7	9
   .05	.86	.77	.70	.63
   .10	.73	.59	.48	.39
   .15	.61	.44	.32	.23
   .20	.51	.33	.21	.13

4. electoral considerations
5. other institutional features
• order of speaking
• order of voting
• assignment of opinions
  
  
  
8. Judicial role attitudes
1. Five general types
1. ritualist
2. adjudicator
3. lawmaker
4. administrator
5. constitutional defender
2. Collapsed into
1. law intepreter
2. lawmaker
3. pragmatist
3. Variations
1. selection system
2. region
3. ideology & party
4. prior judicial experience
   
   
   
9. State supreme court judges and their sociopolitical environment