When the Chief Justice joins an affirmance in criminal cases, she averages 3.49 questions to appellants and 1.53 questions to respondents. When she joins the majority in a reversal, she averages 3.22 questions to respondents, 2.68 to appellants. When she joins the majority in a split decision, she averages 4.23 questions to appellants, 1.55 to respondents.
When the Chief Justice dissents from a criminal affirmance, she averages 5 questions to appellants, 2 to respondents. When the Chief Justice dissents from a criminal reversal, she averages 11 questions to appellants, 2.67 to respondents.
When the majority votes to affirm but the Chief Justice votes for a split decision, she averages 4.5 questions to appellants, 1 to respondents. When the majority votes for a split decision but the Chief Justice votes to affirm, she averages 6.5 questions to appellants and 1 to respondents.
Join us back here next week as we continue our review of the Justices' oral argument records.
Image courtesy of Flickr by Scott Gustin (no changes).
Originally published by California Supreme Court Review on the 6th of November, 2020
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