Do Certified Question Appeals Tend to Be More Closely Divided?

Earlier this week on the Illinois Supreme Court Review, we pointed out that one would expect that any question certified to the state Supreme Court would be a particularly difficult one, with a lot to be said on both sides.  So, we asked – do certified question appeals tend to be decided at the Supreme Court by more closely divided courts?  Far fewer cases get certified from the Seventh Circuit to the Illinois Supreme Court than are certified from the Ninth Circuit to the California Supreme Court, but the answer in Illinois was yes – there was some evidence that certified question appeals tended to be decided by more closely divided courts.

So what does the California data show?