Today, we’re looking at a new topic, tracking the average time Supreme Court review takes for civil cases.  In this and the following post, we measure the lag time in two ways: below, from the grant of review to oral argument, and in the next post, from the close of briefing to argument.

We report the data from grant of review to argument in Table 1520 below.  We begin in 1990 at 449.6 days.  The average dips a bit from there, remaining in the 300s from 1993 through 1998 before increasing to the mid-400s for the six years following.  By 2005, Supreme Court review was up to 532.8 days, and it remained in that neighborhood until 2010.  By 2014, the average length of review had reached 609.4 days, and with the exception of 2019 and 2022 (so far), it has remained in the 600s ever since.  In 2018, the average civil case lasted 660.2 days.  In 2019, the number dipped to 583, but in 2020, it was back to 638.7.  In 2021, cases averaged 607.3 days.  Year-to-date in 2022, the average case is taking, from grant to oral argument, 586.8 days.

Next up: average length of cases measured from the end of briefing through oral argument.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Laila Goubran (no changes).