The Supreme Court recently issued its Workload Statistics Report for the period September 1, 2013 through August 31, 2014, the official court year for statistical purposes. The report shows that the number of total filings continue to decline in most categories, though there was “a modest increase in petitions for review, civil writ petitions, original petitions for noncapital habeas corpus relief, and State Bar of California matters.” The total number of opinions issued dropped by four to 83 from last year’s total of 87. The decrease is striking when you recall that the Court issued 97 opinions two years ago. So this year’s number reflects a decrease in opinions of nearly 14.5 percent from two years ago.
The Report explains the decrease as being due to two factors: (1) “[t]he ongoing impact of several years of budget reductions to the judicial branch,” which continues to “affect the flow of cases throughout the court system”; and (2) “[t]he lack of a full complement of permanent justices,” occasioned by the retirement of Justice Joyce Kennard in April, which “can affect the court’s ability to efficiently and effectively decide cases.”
The breakdown among the Court’s 2013-2014 opinions is interesting. The Court issued 33 opinions in civil matters, compared to 37 last year (and 27 the year before). The number of noncapital criminal matters continued its decline from 43 two years ago, to 35 last year, and just 25 this year. Much of that decline might be explained by the fact that the Court decided 25 automatic appeals from judgments of death, compared with 18 last year. Contrary to our speculation last year, these numbers do not suggest that the Court has placed much renewed focus on its civil docket, nor can it be said that the Court has a better handle on its capital docket than it has had in prior years.
The Report also documents an increase in attorney discipline dispositions, which went from 790 last year to 909 this year. The Report notes that “the number and variety of [attorney discipline] matters in which [internal conference] memoranda were provided for the court’s consideration has increased significantly over the past few years, and the court has granted review in several State Bar matters, as well as entered orders directing further State Bar review and analysis of a substantial number of matters submitted with disciplinary recommendations.”
The Court ordered 31 Court of Appeal opinions depublished—13 more than last year and “a new high in recent years”—but still well below the triple-digit depublication rate during the tenure of former Chief Justice Malcolm Lucas. The Court ordered just three Court of Appeal opinions published, but that was two more than last year.
