What Can We Infer From Justice Burke's Questioning Patterns In Criminal Cases (Part 1)?

Last week, we began our review of the individual Justices' patterns in oral arguments, reviewing the data on Justice Anne M. Burke's questioning in civil cases from 2008 to 2016. Today, we address Justice Burke's patterns in criminal cases.

We report the data for criminal cases when Justice Burke is in the majority in Table 457 below. Consistent with the pattern of the Court as a whole, Justice Burke tends to ask at least slightly more questions of the losing party when she's in the majority. When the Court affirms, Justice Burke averages 1.8 questions to appellants, and 0.98 questions to appellees. Justice Burke averages 1.61 questions to appellees when the Court reverses, and 1.56 to appellants.