Last April, as part of his examination of court procedures, Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman agreed to address an issue raised by appellate practitioners and bar groups around the state: why the Court of Appeals agrees to grant only one or two of every 100 criminal leave applications it receives. This rate is approximately half the rate at which it accepted cases in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Since Judge Lippman’s arrival at the end of February, the number of leave grants will be the highest in 14 years and there has been a significant increase in grants by a number of the individual judges on the Court. This column will review the statistics and the types of cases recently accepted by the Court as well as a recent movement to alter the process by which criminal leave applications are determined.
The Process
