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Measuring Judicial Ideology Using Law Clerk Hiring

Author

Listed:
  • Adam Bonica
  • Adam S. Chilton
  • Jacob Goldin
  • Kyle Rozema
  • Maya Sen

Abstract

We present a new measure of judicial ideology based on judicial hiring behavior. Specifically, we utilize the ideology of the law clerks hired by federal judges to estimate the ideology of the judges themselves. These Clerk-Based Ideology (CBI) scores complement existing measures of judicial ideology in several ways. First, CBI scores can be estimated for judges across the federal judicial hierarchy. Second, CBI scores can capture temporal changes in ideology. Third, CBI scores avoid case selection and strategic behavior concerns that plague existing vote-based measures. We illustrate the promise of CBI scores through a number of applications.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam Bonica & Adam S. Chilton & Jacob Goldin & Kyle Rozema & Maya Sen, 2017. "Measuring Judicial Ideology Using Law Clerk Hiring," American Law and Economics Review, American Law and Economics Association, vol. 19(1), pages 129-161.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:amlawe:v:19:y:2017:i:1:p:129-161.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/aler/ahw013
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Bonica, Adam & Sen, Maya, 2017. "The Politics of Selecting the Bench from the Bar: The Legal Profession and Partisan Incentives to Introduce Ideology into Judicial Selection," Working Paper Series rwp17-048, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    2. Spruk, Rok & Kovac, Mitja, 2019. "Replicating and extending Martin-Quinn scores," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    3. Sarah Staszak, 2018. "The Administrative Role of the Chief Justice: Law, Politics, and Procedure in the Roberts Court Era," Laws, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-17, April.
    4. Clark, Tom S. & Montagnes, B. Pablo & Spenkuch, Jörg L., 2022. "Politics from the Bench? Ideology and Strategic Voting in the U.S. Supreme Court," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    5. Wessel Wijtvliet & Arthur Dyevre, 2021. "Judicial ideology in economic cases: Evidence from the General Court of the European Union," European Union Politics, , vol. 22(1), pages 25-45, March.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • M51 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Firm Employment Decisions; Promotions

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