Statistics on Supreme Court dispositions

Disposition of Supreme Court decisions on certiorari or appeal from state and territory supreme courts, and from federal courts of appeals, 1950-2006
Prepared by Keith Winstein (keithw at mit . edu), Sept. 6, 2006.

Corrected Sept. 6: An older version of this page erroniously included cases heard on certiorari or appeal from federal district courts.

See also the last dozen years.

Note: Only includes dispositions with signed opinions. Does not include summary affirmances, summary reversals, per curiam pluralities, or certiorari to state intermediate appellate courts.

State/Territory Affirmed Reversed Vacated Other Total

Alabama 12 (27%) 27 (61%) 2 (5%) 3 (7%) 44

Alaska 1 (25%) 2 (50%) 1 (25%) 0 (0%) 4

Arizona 9 (32%) 18 (64%) 1 (4%) 0 (0%) 28

Arkansas 4 (25%) 9 (56%) 2 (12%) 2 (12%) 16

California 24 (39%) 29 (47%) 7 (11%) 3 (5%) 62

Colorado 4 (36%) 7 (64%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 11

Connecticut 5 (38%) 6 (46%) 1 (8%) 1 (8%) 13

Delaware 2 (33%) 2 (33%) 2 (33%) 0 (0%) 6

Florida 17 (37%) 23 (50%) 3 (7%) 4 (9%) 46

Georgia 7 (18%) 24 (62%) 3 (8%) 5 (13%) 39

Hawaii 1 (33%) 2 (67%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3

Idaho 1 (12%) 7 (88%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 8

Illinois 17 (35%) 22 (45%) 9 (18%) 2 (4%) 49

Indiana 3 (43%) 2 (29%) 0 (0%) 2 (29%) 7

Iowa 3 (27%) 7 (64%) 1 (9%) 0 (0%) 11

Kansas 7 (27%) 14 (54%) 3 (12%) 3 (12%) 26

Kentucky 7 (32%) 15 (68%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 22

Louisiana 5 (15%) 25 (74%) 0 (0%) 4 (12%) 34

Maine 5 (62%) 3 (38%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 8

Maryland 10 (30%) 15 (45%) 7 (21%) 1 (3%) 33

Massachusetts 3 (17%) 13 (72%) 2 (11%) 0 (0%) 18

Michigan 17 (47%) 17 (47%) 2 (6%) 0 (0%) 36

Minnesota 5 (33%) 10 (67%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 15

Mississippi 2 (11%) 16 (84%) 1 (5%) 0 (0%) 19

Missouri 6 (26%) 14 (61%) 3 (13%) 0 (0%) 23

Montana 1 (25%) 3 (75%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 4

Nebraska 3 (60%) 2 (40%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 5

Nevada 3 (43%) 3 (43%) 1 (14%) 0 (0%) 7

New Hampshire 2 (20%) 8 (80%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 10

New Jersey 8 (36%) 11 (50%) 0 (0%) 3 (14%) 22

New Mexico 5 (50%) 6 (60%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 10

New York 35 (42%) 44 (53%) 4 (5%) 0 (0%) 83

North Carolina 6 (30%) 9 (45%) 3 (15%) 2 (10%) 20

North Dakota 2 (33%) 3 (50%) 1 (17%) 0 (0%) 6

Ohio 14 (33%) 26 (62%) 4 (10%) 0 (0%) 42

Oklahoma 6 (32%) 11 (58%) 2 (11%) 0 (0%) 19

Oregon 3 (20%) 9 (60%) 2 (13%) 1 (7%) 15

Pennsylvania 7 (29%) 16 (67%) 1 (4%) 1 (4%) 24

Rhode Island 0 (0%) 2 (50%) 1 (25%) 1 (25%) 4

South Carolina 3 (12%) 19 (73%) 3 (12%) 1 (4%) 26

South Dakota 1 (20%) 4 (80%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 5

Tennessee 7 (47%) 8 (53%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 15

Texas 5 (16%) 22 (71%) 3 (10%) 1 (3%) 31

Utah 3 (60%) 2 (40%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 5

Vermont 2 (50%) 2 (50%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 4

Virginia 9 (26%) 22 (65%) 0 (0%) 3 (9%) 34

Washington 12 (38%) 17 (53%) 4 (12%) 0 (0%) 32

West Virginia 3 (33%) 6 (67%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 9

Wisconsin 9 (38%) 12 (50%) 3 (12%) 0 (0%) 24

Wyoming 0 (0%) 1 (100%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1

Puerto Rico 2 (67%) 1 (33%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3

All State Supreme Courts 328 (32%) 598 (57%) 82 (8%) 43 (4%) 1041

First Circuit 44 (39%) 52 (46%) 13 (12%) 5 (4%) 113

Second Circuit 175 (44%) 193 (48%) 24 (6%) 12 (3%) 398

Third Circuit 112 (43%) 122 (47%) 19 (7%) 11 (4%) 261

Fourth Circuit 95 (43%) 106 (48%) 18 (8%) 7 (3%) 223

Fifth Circuit 143 (34%) 232 (56%) 32 (8%) 17 (4%) 418

Sixth Circuit 106 (36%) 166 (56%) 19 (6%) 10 (3%) 297

Seventh Circuit 112 (37%) 159 (52%) 27 (9%) 9 (3%) 303

Eighth Circuit 73 (33%) 121 (55%) 21 (10%) 5 (2%) 220

Ninth Circuit 178 (29%) 347 (57%) 63 (10%) 22 (4%) 604

Tenth Circuit 61 (38%) 90 (56%) 8 (5%) 4 (2%) 161

Eleventh Circuit 51 (40%) 60 (48%) 10 (8%) 7 (6%) 126

District of Columbia Circuit 92 (30%) 190 (62%) 28 (9%) 9 (3%) 304

Federal Circuit 11 (26%) 21 (50%) 9 (21%) 1 (2%) 42

All Federal Courts of Appeals 1253 (36%) 1859 (54%) 291 (8%) 119 (3%) 3470