With the U.S. Supreme Court beginning its October 2015 term next month, we conduct our 31st annual review of the performance of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit over the past term, and briefly discuss the Second Circuit decisions scheduled for review during the new term.
The court’s 2014 term was fractious, with the most dissenting opinions in decades at 68 and fewer unanimous opinions (40 percent) than in many years.1 This is in contrast to the court’s 2013 term, where approximately two-thirds of the court’s docket resulted in unanimous decisions.2
