Appellate Court Responses to Caseload Growth, Project Summary

Information was obtained from court annual reports, unpublished statistics, court rules, case reporters, interviews with court staff, and the large body of law review and other literature on appellate court operations. Even though caseloads are growing much faster than the number of judgeships required to keep pace, appellate court dispositions are not falling behind. The number of appeals decided per judge is increasing dramatically, with about half of the increase attributable to judges' adjustment of their work habits more than to procedural changes to enhance efficiency. Courts have responded to caseload growth with a variety of changes. Adding judges generally produces a proportionate increase in decisions, and creating or expanding intermediate courts has increased output in accordance with the number of new judgeships. Among the procedural changes, deciding appeals without opinion has the greatest impact, followed by limiting opinion publication. Using memo opinions, limiting oral arguments, and adding law clerks have moderate impacts. Changes having minimal impact on decision output include reducing panel size, using summary judgment procedures, and adding staff attorneys. See NCJ 103762 for related document.