Yesterday, we recapped part of the Supreme Court’s 2024–2025 term (from September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2025), discussing data about actions taken at the court’s conferences (also here). Today, we talk about the court’s opinions.
The court issued 45 opinions, as opposed to 58 the previous term and 55 in 2022–2023. 22 of the 45 were in civil cases; the remaining 23 were criminal, including nine death penalty opinions. The breakdown for 2023–2024 was 32 civil and 26 criminal, including five death penalty cases; for 2022–2023, it was 23 civil and 32 criminal, including five death penalty appeals.
The 45 number comes with an asterisk, however. Uncommonly, there were cases that were argued during the term but not decided before term’s end because the 90-day filing period was delayed by post-argument briefing. There were seven of them in fact, and we might not see opinions in three of them until January 2026. The opinion in one filed earlier this month.
All seven justices concurred in 34 of the 45 opinions, a 76 percent rate. Another two cases had no dissents, but only five justices signed the court’s opinions and two justices concurred separately. Adding those two cases yields an 80 percent no-dissent rate.
In the 2023–2024 term, the seven-justice concurrence rate was 79 percent and there was an 83 percent no-dissent rate. For 2022–2023, those rates were 91 and 93 percent.
There were nine decisions with dissents, seven in criminal cases and two in civil cases. Three of the nine were death penalty appeals, although the lone dissent in one was about an issue tangential to the sentence and conviction. There were two 4-3 decisions, one civil and one criminal; and four 5-2 opinions, one civil and three criminal. One criminal case had two dissenters, but only four justices signed the majority opinion. There were 6-1 decisions in two criminal cases, including the one death penalty case with a disagreement about only a minor issue.
Of the nine total death penalty opinions, seven affirmed both the conviction and the capital sentence, one reversed the sentence and affirmed the conviction, and one reversed both the sentence and the conviction.
Here are individual justice statistics:
Justice Goodwin Liu wrote nine opinions for the court, five civil and four criminal, including two death penalty opinions. There were two dissents in one of his civil cases and three dissents from one of his criminal opinions; the other seven were unanimous decisions. Justice Liu also filed three full or partial dissents, two of which Justice Kelli Evans joined (although she joined one only in part), and he authored three separate concurrences, one signed by Justices Joshua Groban and Evans and one joined by Justice Leondra Kruger. He signed two dissents written by Justice Evans.
Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero wrote seven opinions for the court, four civil and three criminal, including two death penalty opinions. Her opinions were unanimous, except for two 5-2 death penalty opinions. The Chief Justice also authored four dissenting opinions (one was a partial dissent), joined by Justices Carol Corrigan and Martin Jenkins in one and by Justice Corrigan in a second. She didn’t sign any other justice’s separate opinion.
Justice Evans also wrote seven opinions for the court. Two were in civil cases and five were in criminal cases, including one death penalty opinion. One criminal opinion drew a two-justice dissent. The remaining six opinions were signed by all her colleagues, although there were one-justice separate concurrences in two of them. Justice Evans also issued two dissenting opinions, both in death penalty cases and both signed by Justice Liu. She wrote a separate concurrence in one death penalty appeal. Evans signed two Justice Liu dissents (one only in part) and one of his concurrences, and she also signed a Justice Kruger partial dissent and a Justice Groban concurring opinion.
Justice Kruger wrote six opinions for the court, three civil and three criminal, including one death penalty opinion. There was a one-justice dissent from one of her criminal decisions; the other five were unanimous. She also authored a partial dissenting opinion and four concurrences. Justice Evans signed Justice Kruger’s dissent and Justice Jenkins joined one of her concurring opinions. She signed a Justice Liu concurrence.
Justice Corrigan wrote six opinions for the court, three civil and three criminal, including one death penalty opinion. One of her opinions drew a two-justice dissent and another was signed by four of her colleagues with two justices separately concurring. The remaining four were unanimous. Justice Corrigan also filed one dissenting opinion, in a civil case, which was signed by Justice Jenkins. She signed two of the Chief Justice’s dissents.
Justice Groban wrote five opinions for the court, two civil and three criminal, including two in death penalty appeals. One death penalty opinion drew a limited dissent and three justices dissented from one civil decision. Three of his opinions were unanimous. Justice Groban also filed a concurring opinion that Justice Evans joined. He signed a Justice Liu concurrence.
Justice Jenkins also wrote five opinions for the court, three in civil cases and two in criminal cases. Four of the five were unanimous decisions and the fifth was signed by four justices and had a two-justice concurrence. Justice Jenkins authored no separate opinions, but he signed one of the Chief Justice’s dissents and also one by Justice Corrigan. He also joined a concurrence by Justice Kruger.
