The percentage of opinions that the court of appeals publishes is going down, down, down. That’s the subject of SCOWstats new post. One might suppose that the rule change allowing the citation of unpublished opinions is to blame, but the data does not support that conclusion. What’s really surprising is that SCOW publishes roughly the same number of opinions as the court of appeals. Does the court of appeals lacks confidence in the guidance it has to offer the bench, the bar, and litigants?
Considering some of the decisions that have come down that seem clearly wrong, being unpublished is not a bad thing.