History of the Federal Judiciary

Supreme Court of the United States
Method of Disposition, 1970–2010

October term	Cases argued during term	Disposed by full opinion	Disposed by per curiam opinion	Set for re-argument next term	Petitions for certiorari and appeals granted plenary review	Reviewed and decided without oral argument	Total available for argument at next term
1970	151	126	22	3	161	192	107
1971	177	143	24	9	163	286	99
1972	177	159	18	0	154	265	76
1973	170	161	8	1	183	188	89
1974	173	142	20	11	176	157	100
1975	179	160	16	3	172	186	99
1976	176	154	22	0	169	207	88
1977	172	153	8	9	162	129	75
1978	168	153	8	8	163	110	79
1979	156	143	12	1	154	124	79
1980	154	144	8	2	162	130	102
1981	184	169	10	4	210	134	126
1982	183	174	6	3	179	135	113
1983	184	174	6	4	149	86	80
1984	175	159	11	5	185	82	87
1985	171	161	10	1	187	103	101
1986	175	164	10	1	167	113	91
1987	167	151	9	7	180	95	105
1988	170	156	12	2	147	110	81
1989	146	143	3	0	122	80	57
1990	125	121	4	0	141	115	70
1991	127	120	4	4	120	77	66
1992	116	111	5	0	97	113	46
1993	99	93	6	0	99	70	40
1994	94	91	3	0	93	69	39
1995	90	87	3	0	105	120	52
1996	90	87	3	0	87	82	48
1997	96	93	1	0	90	51	41
1998	90	84	4	2	81	59	30
1999	83	79	2	1	92	54	37
2000	86	83	4	0	99	127	49
2001	88	85	3	0	88	72	47
2002	84	79	5	0	91	66	40
2003	91	89	2	0	87	52	47
2004	87	85	2	0	80	826	41
2005	90	82	5	3	78	105	31
2006	78	74	4	0	77	280	28
2007	75	72	2	0	85	208	47
2008	87	83	3	1	87	95	47
2009	82	77	4	0	77	95	40
2010	86	83	3	0	90	84	43

Sources:
1970–1975: Journal of the Supreme Court of the United States.
1976–2010: Annual Report of the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Table A-1.