A report released by the Alabama Supreme Court in October appears to show that some justices are taking a long time rendering decisions, a situation some court officials say is slowing things unnecessarily at the state’s highest court.

The report, commissioned and released by the justices themselves, examined the assignment and handling of cases from Oct. 1, 2008 – Sept. 30, 2009. What appears evident from the report is that Justice Tom Parker has fallen way behind in his case load. Justices Michael Bolin and Glen Murdock also appear to be disposing of cases at a far slower rate than their fellow judges, although court officials say they are working to correct that.

“About all I can say is the numbers speak for themselves,” said Justice Tom Woodall. “We released the numbers so people could see them and judge for themselves.”

Woodall declined further comment on the situation because he felt it would be improper.

Court Clerk Robert Esdale said the length of time in disposing of cases has become an issue for the court and for Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb. He said he believes she has spoken with the other justices about their pace in rendering decisions.

“Of course (it’s a problem),” Esdale explained. “When you have an aspirational target of 290 days and one justice has an average of over 400 days, it slows things down.”

According to the report, Parker takes an average of 217 days on decisions involving certiorari petitions — review of a lower court’s cases — and an average of 534 days to render original decisions after being assigned a case. By way of comparison, Justices Cobb, Champ Lyons, Woodall, Lyn Stuart, Patricia Smith and Greg Shaw together average 56 days on certiorari petitions and 129 days on original decisions. In other words, Parker’s certiorari time is 161 days longer and 405 days longer for original decisions. That is 388 percent and 414 percent longer respectively.

Murdock averages 141 days for certiorari decisions and 362 for original decisions, according to the study, meaning his decisions come 85 and 233 days later on average in the two categories.

Bolin’s numbers show him with 96 days for certiorari and 259 for original decisions, leaving him lagging behind his other justices by 40 days and 130 days respectively. However, Esdale did defend Bolin and Murdock, saying they both have worked hard to improve their backlogs. He also noted that Murdock has released more opinions and dissents than other judges during the past year.

At the time the study was released, Parker had by far the most cases pending decision of any justice. Depite the fact that they are assigned an equal amount of cases, and that they are handed out by random computer selection, Parker’s backlog of 64 certiorari petitions and 73 cases awaiting original decisions far outstripped those of his colleagues on the bench. Shaw had the second most certiorari decisions pending, with 48, although her number of original decisions pending was only 33.

Murdock had 35 certiorari decisions pending and 41 original cases awaiting his decisions, while Bolin followed with 26 and 25 respectively.

Parker was also extremely low in the number of decisions released during this time, filing just 25 certiorari decisions and 28 original decisions, a number far lower than any of his colleagues, other than Shaw, who was in his first year on the court and was also recused from many cases because he was a former judge on the criminal court of appeals. Here, Bolin’s number was in line with the other justices, as was Murdock’s.

According to the report, Parker’s backlog became so severe in 2008, that several of his oldest cases were assigned to Cobb and two other justices in order to help the court get things in order. To do this, Parker had to agree to reduce his staff in order to help pay for it.

Esdale said the current financial crunch at the Supreme Court hasn’t helped matters, as they’ve been unable to hire other attorneys who might be able to aid in clearing the backlog.

“I guess the chief justice could get other people to help, but it’s pretty tough with the money shortage,” he said.

Esdale said there has been no real explanation as to why some particular justices take so much longer to dispose of their cases. He said none are assigned any harder cases than the others, as they are handed out completely randomly. The chief justice is assigned one out of every 17 cases instead of one out of nine, in order to allow for more time for administrative duties.

Esdale said he knows of no real way Cobb can compel the slower justices to pick up their pace, other than eventually reporting them to the Judicial Inquiries Commission, a measure he says isn’t even in consideration right now.

“I don’t know of any authority the chief justice has to make a justice work faster or slower,” he said. “I suppose if it really delayed the court, there is always the Judicial Inquiries Commission, but I don’t think anything has come close to that.”

Justices serve a six-year term, and Parker was elected in 2005. Murdock has held his seat since 2007 and Bolin was also elected in 2005. All are Republicans. Neither Parker nor Murdock returned calls about this article.