With this post, we're addressing a new question in our ongoing review of the Justices' voting records: how often each Justice is in the minority. The question serves as an indication of how closely in sync with the majority of the Court an individual Justice is philosophically, and during a Justice's term as Chief Justice, it offers some indication of how much influence the Justice has over her or his colleagues.
Since joining the Court in 2006, Chief Justice Anne Burke has voted in 463 civil cases. She has been in the minority in only 32 of those cases – 6.91% of the total. Before becoming Chief Justice, Chief Justice Burke had voted in the minority in 7.11% of civil cases. Since taking the center seat, she has been in the minority in only 2 of 41 civil cases – 4.87% of the total. This is reflected in the year-by-year data below. She voted with the minority in 15.38% of civil cases during 2017, but only 4.55% in 2018, 0% in 2019 and 6.25% in 2020.
Join us back here next week as we continue our review of the Justices' minority percentages in civil cases.
Image courtesy of Flickr by Kate Brady (no changes).
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