SCOWstats has, until now, measured the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s recent activity against earlier years of the court’s work. Other reference frames are also available, however, and today launches what I hope will be the first in a series of posts comparing the output of the Wisconsin Supreme Court with that of its counterpart in Minnesota—paying particular attention to some of the themes featured in previous posts devoted solely to Wisconsin.
I selected Minnesota because it resembles Wisconsin more closely than most other states—location, climate, economy, demographics, and so forth—while recognizing that it would likely be just as interesting to compare Wisconsin’s supreme court with that of a state that has little in common with the Midwest, especially a state where the justices are appointed rather than elected. That will have to wait for another day, though, as Wisconsin’s western neighbor takes precedence for now over more exotic alternatives.[Continue Reading…]