Supreme Court had a light load

In years gone by, the Supreme Court handed down over 100 opinions
by the end of a term. That is no longer the case.

In a Washington Post article, The Chief Justice who gives a
traditional State of the Judiciary Report wrote the following:

Criminal case filings rose 8 percent in 2009 over the previous year,

and the number of defendants in the federal system set a record at

nearly 98,000. "The number of criminal cases reached its highest

level since 1932, the year before ratification of the Twenty-first

Amendment, which repealed prohibition," Roberts wrote.

He said the increases came in cases related to immigration, fraud,

marijuana trafficking and sex offenses. Immigration filings

climbed to record levels, mostly because of allegations of

"improper reentry by aliens or fraud or misuse of a visa

or entry permit," according to the report.

The number of bankruptcy filings grew 35 percent from

the 2008 total, a result of the nation's struggling economy.

Roberts noted that it was the highest number of filings

since 2005, when there was a rush to file in advance

of a new federal law that changed standards.

He noted that his own court had a modest uptick in its

workload in the term that began in October 2008.

The court heard arguments in 87 cases,

and 83 of them were decided in 74 signed opinions.

That compared with 67 signed opinions in the previous term.

Another article in the New York Times provides some

interesting facts about the actual numbers of cases

heard by the federal courts.