The Judicial Counsel Public Affairs office today published its annual review of the most recently completed Supreme Court term (September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2026).
The review reported 52 Supreme Court opinions during the term, up from last term’s 45, which might have been the smallest output in court history. The 52 opinions were evenly split between civil and criminal cases.
The court depublished seven Court of Appeal opinions, not counting opinions depublished by a Supreme Court grant-and-transfer order that directed the Court of Appeal to vacate its prior opinion (see here).
The term review also included sections on: Justice Jenkins’s retirement almost a year ago (see here), which has led to the court being shorthanded since then; the deaths of former Justice Joyce Kennard (see here) and the court’s former Chief Supervising Attorney Jake Dear (see here), and the court’s memorial session for former Justice Joseph Grodin (see here); special oral argument sessions, one outreach session in Monterey (see here and here) and one for hearings about cases concerning a county sheriff’s seizure of election ballots (see here and here); and Judicial Ethics, the State Bar, and Attorney Admissions.
The review identified five “notable decisions” from the term: J.O. v. Superior Court (see here), People v. Bankston (see here), In re Kowalczyk (see here), Gilead Tenofovir Cases (see here), and Family Violence Appellate Project v. Superior Court (see here).
