johnlovesdata · March 16, 2016 20:52 · Mar 16, 2016 · Mar 16, 2016 · Mar 16, 2016 · Mar 16, 2016
diff --git a/supreme.r b/supreme.r
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ library(ggplot2)
 
 dat <- read.csv("supreme_court_vacancies.csv",
                 col.names=c("year", "wait"))
-dat[] <- lapply(dat, as.integer)
 
 # We only want every other tick labeled
 xlabs <- seq(1780, 2020, by=10)

diff --git a/orig.png b/orig.png
diff --git a/plot.png b/plot.png
diff --git a/supreme.r b/supreme.r
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+library(ggplot2)
+
+dat <- read.csv("supreme_court_vacancies.csv",
+                col.names=c("year", "wait"))
+dat[] <- lapply(dat, as.integer)
+
+# We only want every other tick labeled
+xlabs <- seq(1780, 2020, by=10)
+xlabs[seq(2, 24, by=2)]  <-  " "
+
+# Pretty long caption
+caption <- "Note: Vacancies are counted as the number of days between a justice's death, retirement or resignation and the successor justice's swearing in (or commissioning in the case of a recess appointment) as a member of the court.Sources: U.S. Senate, 'Supreme Court Nominations, present-1789'; Supreme Court, 'Members of the Supreme Court of the United States'; Pew Research Center calculations"
+caption <- paste0(strwrap(caption, 160), sep="", collapse="\n")
+
+annot <- read.table(text=
+"year|wait|just|text
+1848|860|0|Robert Cooper Grier was sworn in Aug 10, 1846,<br>841 days after the death of Henry Baldwin
+1969|440|1|Henry Blackmun was sworn<br>in June 9, 1970, 391 days<br>after Abe Fortas resigned.
+1990|290|0|Anthony Kennedy<br>was sworn in Feb.<br>18, 1988, 237<br>days after Lewis<br>Powell retired.",
+sep="|", header=TRUE, stringsAsFactors=FALSE)
+annot$text <- gsub("<br>", "\n", annot$text)
+
+gg <- ggplot()
+gg <- gg + geom_point(data=dat, aes(x=year, y=wait))
+gg <- gg + geom_label(aes(x=1780, y=900, label="days"),
+                      family="OpenSans-CondensedLight",
+                      size=3.5, hjust=0, label.size=0, color="#2b2b2b")
+gg <- gg + geom_label(data=annot, aes(x=year, y=wait, label=text, hjust=just),
+                      family="OpenSans-CondensedLight", lineheight=0.95,
+                      size=3, label.size=0, color="#2b2b2b")
+gg <- gg + scale_x_continuous(expand=c(0,0),
+                              breaks=seq(1780, 2020, by=10),
+                              labels=xlabs, limits=c(1780,2020))
+gg <- gg + scale_y_continuous(expand=c(0,10),
+                              breaks=seq(100, 900, by=100),
+                              limits=c(0, 1000))
+gg <- gg + labs(x=NULL, y=NULL,
+                title="Lengthy Supreme Court vacancies are rare now, but weren't always",
+                subtitle="Supreme Court vacancies, by duration",
+                caption=caption)
+gg <- gg + theme_minimal(base_family="OpenSans-CondensedLight")
+gg <- gg + theme(panel.grid=element_line())
+gg <- gg + theme(panel.grid.major.y=element_line(color="#2b2b2b", linetype="dotted", size=0.15))
+gg <- gg + theme(panel.grid.major.x=element_blank())
+gg <- gg + theme(panel.grid.minor.x=element_blank())
+gg <- gg + theme(panel.grid.minor.y=element_blank())
+gg <- gg + theme(axis.line=element_line())
+gg <- gg + theme(axis.line.x=element_line(color="#2b2b2b", size=0.15))
+gg <- gg + theme(axis.ticks=element_line())
+gg <- gg + theme(axis.ticks.x=element_line(color="#2b2b2b", size=0.15))
+gg <- gg + theme(axis.ticks.y=element_blank())
+gg <- gg + theme(axis.ticks.length=unit(5, "pt"))
+gg <- gg + theme(plot.margin=unit(rep(0.5, 4), "cm"))
+gg <- gg + theme(axis.text.y=element_text(margin=margin(r=-5)))
+gg <- gg + theme(plot.title=element_text(family="OpenSans-CondensedBold", margin=margin(b=15)))
+gg <- gg + theme(plot.subtitle=element_text(family="OpenSans-CondensedLightItalic"))
+gg <- gg + theme(plot.caption=element_text(size=8, hjust=0, margin=margin(t=15)))
+gg
diff --git a/supreme_court_vacancies.csv b/supreme_court_vacancies.csv
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+"year","wait"
+1845,841
+1792,152
+1793,43
+1795,103
+1795,70
+1795,4
+1799,37
+1800,141
+1801,180
+1803,98
+1806,62
+1811,504
+1811,154
+1823,166
+1825,133
+1829,55
+1830,500
+1835,264
+1835,164
+1836,483
+1842,314
+1845,440
+1845,6
+1851,17
+1852,260
+1857,111
+1862,780
+1862,584
+1862,293
+1864,66
+1869,43
+1872,43
+1873,301
+1878,275
+1880,111
+1880,19
+1882,162
+1882,66
+1887,244
+1887,191
+1890,293
+1891,76
+1892,39
+1892,266
+1894,244
+1896,152
+1897,57
+1902,6
+1903,84
+1906,207
+1909,199
+1909,72
+1910,166
+1910,45
+1910,17
+1911,154
+1914,92
+1916,156
+1916,121
+1920,55
+1922,53
+1922,10
+1924,53
+1929,14
+1930,80
+1931,62
+1936,76
+1938,58
+1938,10
+1939,207
+1939,76
+1941,158
+1941,0
+1942,137
+1942,14
+1944,58
+1946,64
+1948,35
+1953,25
+1955,170
+1956,0
+1956,23
+1958,0
+1962,37
+1962,21
+1964,68
+1968,0
+1968,111
+1970,391
+1972,115
+1972,103
+1976,41
+1981,82
+1986,2
+1987,237
+1990,19
+1990,82
+1992,43
+1994,0
+2005,0
+2005,25
+2009,41
+2010,41
No results found