Dissent rates vary widely across American appellate courts

Evidence

When cases merely resolve disputes between the contending parties and have no broader legal significance, some appellate courts do not issue opinions but merely announce their decisions. When they are published, most appellate court opinions are shorter than those authored by Supreme Court justices. Judges on other appellate courts also tend to file fewer concurring or dissenting opinions. Federal courts of appeals decide most cases in three-judge panels, and dissents occur in less than 10 percent of the decisions. Most state supreme courts report dissents in less than a quarter of the cases they decide, but dissent levels vary considerably from court to court. On some courts, dissent is rare, perhaps because of a tradition of unanimity, a homogeneous group of judges, or the routine character of the cases they decide. Thus, the Alabama Supreme Court until recently had dissents filed in fewer than 5 percent of its cases. On other courts— for example, the Ohio Supreme Court—dissent is an established tradition, occurring in roughly half the cases. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 961

Categorization

• SHARE: Good fodder for someone studying judicial behavior: the Alabama Supreme Court filing dissents in under 5 percent of cases versus Ohio’s roughly half is a striking institutional-contrast fact.
• XREF: connects to: State supreme courts vary widely in how readily judges dissent — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 400

Broader Connections

• State supreme courts vary widely in how readily judges dissent #expands (0.92) — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 400