Abstract
This study analyzes the quantitative and qualitative readability of Idaho Supreme Court opinions from 1891 to the present. It does so using a statistically relevant sample of 371 court opinions. First, it examines the readability of court opinions using the Flesch readability tests results and compares them with the more qualitatively relevant Style test results. The study also performs and examines several linear regression tests to confirm its earlier correlation findings and to see if certain variables further affect readability out-comes.
Next, this study examines the issue of opinion readability using two textual analysis models from political science literature. First, it applies Donald Lutz’s textual completeness model of analysis. Second, it applies Martin Landau’s system redundancy model. Citing to illustrations from the Court opinions, it uses these models to demonstrate how text com-pleteness and textual redundancy are superior assessment models for readability.
Based on these analyses, this study concludes that Idaho Supreme Court opinions are becoming more readable over time.