Reversals abound today in the Eleventh Circuit

The Eleventh Circuit issued three additional decisions since noon today, and all of today's opinions reverse the trial court at least in part.

This trend seems remarkable given that by far, most appeals result in an affirmance -- but since the opinions mentioned here are only the published opinions (representing only 10% of the court's caseload in 2006), it perhaps makes sense that a high(er) percentage of the published cases are reversals. 6 out of 6 opinions reversing at least some aspect of the case is still interesting, though, particularly because several of the cases reverse the district court on issues where the Eleventh Circuit does not have a reputation for being to be especially "activist" (to use a loaded term) -- e.g. sufficiency of the evidence in a criminal case, the right to counsel in a criminal case, and here, civil rights. Evidence, perhaps, to counter the cynical jurisprudential realists out there...