Interesting Statistics
The following chart from the Houston Chronicle depicts how long argued cases have been pending before the Texas Supreme Court and the number of deciding opinions each of the justices wrote in Fiscal Year 2007. Though intended to expand on recent controversies, it provides some perspective nonetheless.
Whoever is responsible for the Texas Judiciary's servers has finally put a link to the FY 2007 Annual Report (2+meg searchable pdf file) on the appellate court home pages. The yearly productivity statistics (for the Supreme Court as a whole) are not as appalling as recent media comment suggests, at least not in comparison with prior years. See Report at p. 21 et seq.
It appears the current court is willing to accept a greater number of petitions for briefing and decision on the merits.
http://www.courts.state.tx.us/pubs/AR2007/published-annual-report-2007.pdf
"The 158 regular causes added to the courts docket in 2007 was 11.3 percent higher than the number added the year before (142 causes). Over the past three years, an average of 150 causes were added per year, compared to an average of 114 added each year from 1997 to 2004. In 2007, the court disposed of 8.3 percent more causes than it did in the previous year.
Filings, however, outpaced dispositions, and the
clearance rate dropped slightly from the previous year
to 91.1 percent. The number of causes pending continued
to grow, reaching the largest number (106) ever pending in
the court. "
Comparatice case processing statistics for the past five fiscal years can also be found here:
http://www.courts.state.tx.us/pubs/AR2007/sc/2-sc-activity-2007.pdf
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