U.S. Supreme Court -- Cases Filed and Disposition statistics



Action	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998


Total cases on docket..	5,144	5,311	5,079	5,100	5,006	5,158	5,123	5,268	5,657	5,746	6,316	6,770	7,245	7,786	8,100	7,565	7,602	7,692	8,083

Appellate cases on docket ..	2,749	2,935	2,710	2,688	2,575	2,571	2,547	2,577	2,587	2,416	2,351	2,451	2,441	2,442	2,515	2,456	2,430	2,432	2,387

From prior term.	527	522	545	520	539	400	476	440	446	384	365	365	379	342	377	361	375	347	326
Docketed during present term..	2,222	2,413	2,165	2,168	2,036	2,171	2,071	2,137	2,141	2,032	1,986	2,086	2,062	2,100	2,138	2,095	2,055	2,085	2,061
Cases acted upon ..	2,324	2,513	2,279	2,220	2,253	2,185	2,189	2,224	2,271	2,096	2,042	2,125	2,140	2,099	2,185	2,130	2,124	2,142	2,092
Granted review.	167	203	169	140	167	166	152	157	130	103	114	103	83	78	83	92	74	75	72
Denied, dismissed, or withdrawn..	1,999	2,100	1,892	1,902	1,953	1,863	1,876	1,919	1,973	1,881	1,802	1,914	1,920	1,947	2,016	1,945	1,955	1,990	1,940
Summarily decided.	90	114	113	71	59	78	71	66	75	44	81	52	84	34	52	62	66	36	44
Cases not acted upon..	425	422	413	468	322	386	358	353	316	320	309	326	301	343	330	326	306	290	295

Pauper cases on docket..	2,371	2,354	2,352	2,394	2,416	2,577	2,564	2,675	3,056	3,316	3,951	4,307	4,792	5,332	5,574	5,098	5,165	5,253	5,689
Cases acted upon ¹.	2,027	2,039	2,013	1,992	2,087	2,189	2,250	2,263	2,638	2,891	3,436	3,768	4,261	4,621	4,983	4,514	4,613	4,616	4,951
Granted review..	17	7	10	9	18	20	15	23	17	19	27	17	14	21	10	13	13	14	9
Denied, dismissed, or withdrawn..	1,968	2,014	1,995	1,968	2,050	2,136	2,186	2,210	2,577	2,824	3,369	3,716	4,209	4,566	4,955	4,439	4,582	4,581	4,926
Summarily decided..	32	12	6	10	14	24	38	21	32	35	28	22	25	30	14	55	15	14	11
Cases not acted upon..	344	315	339	402	329	388	314	412	418	425	515	539	531	711	591	584	552	637	738
Original cases on docket..	24	22	17	18	15	10	12	16	14	14	14	12	12	12	11	11	7	7	7
Cases disposed of during term	7	6	3	7	8	2	1	5	2	2	3	1	1	1	2	5	2	1	2

Total cases available
for argument	264	318	312	269	271	276	270	280	254	204	201	196	166	145	136	145	140	138	126

Cases disposed of	162	192	199	189	184	175	179	175	173	147	131	130	120	105	97	93	92	97	94
Cases argued.	154	184	183	184	175	171	175	167	170	146	125	127	116	99	94	90	90	96	90
Cases dismissed or remanded
without argument	8	8	16	5	9	4	4	8	3	1	6	3	4	6	3	3	2	1	4
Cases remaining..	102	126	113	80	87	101	91	105	81	57	70	66	46	40	39	52	48	41	32
Cases decided by signed opinion..	144	170	174	174	159	161	164	151	156	143	121	120	111	93	91	87	87	93	84
Cases decided by per curiam opinion..	8	10	6	6	11	10	10	9	12	3	4	3	4	6	3	3	3	1	4
Number of signed opinions..	123	141	151	151	139	146	145	139	133	129	112	107	107	84	82	75	80	91	75

1 Beginning 1980, includes cases granted review and carried over to next term, not shown separately.

Source: Office of the Clerk, Supreme Court of the United States, unpublished data.

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/index.html

* United States Supreme Court

The United States Supreme Court consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices. At its discretion, and within certain guidelines established by Congress, the Supreme Court each year hears a limited number of the cases it is asked to decide. Those cases may begin in the federal or state courts, and they usually involve important questions about the Constitution or federal law.

* appellate

About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgment of a lower court (trial court) or tribunal. For example, the U.S. circuit courts of appeals review the decisions of the U.S. district courts.

court

Government entity authorized to resolve legal disputes. Judges sometimes use �court to refer to themselves in the third person, as in �the court has read the briefs.

docket

A log containing the complete history of each case in the form of brief chronological entries summarizing the court proceedings.

opinion

A judges written explanation of the decision of the court. Because a case may be heard by three or more judges in the court of appeals, the opinion in appellate decisions can take several forms. If all the judges completely agree on the result, one judge will write the opinion for all. If all the judges do not agree, the formal decision will be based upon the view of the majority, and one member of the majority will write the opinion. The judges who did not agree with the majority may write separately in dissenting or concurring opinions to present their views. A dissenting opinion disagrees with the majority opinion because of the reasoning and/or the principles of law the majority used to decide the case. A concurring opinion agrees with the decision of the majority opinion, but offers further comment or clarification or even an entirely different reason for reaching the same result. Only the majority opinion can serve as binding precedent in future cases. See also precedent.

remand

The act of an appellate court sending a case to a lower court for further proceedings.

*

http://www.allcountries.org/uscensus/356_u_s_supreme_court_cases_filed.html

These tables are based on figures supplied by the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce and are subject to revision by the Census Bureau.

Copyright © 2006 Photius Coutsoukis and Information Technology Associates, all rights reserved.