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Change over Tenure: Voting, Variance, and Decision Making on the U.S. Courts of Appeals

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  • Erin B. Kaheny
  • Susan Brodie Haire
  • Sara C. Benesh

Abstract

Existing scholarship on the voting behavior of U.S. Courts of Appeals judges finds that their decisions are best understood as a function of law, policy preferences, and factors relating to the institutional context of the circuit court. What previous studies have failed to consider, however, is that the ability to predict circuit judge decisions can vary in substantively important ways and that judges, in different stages of their careers, may behave distinctively. This article develops a theoretical framework which conceptualizes career stage to account for variability in voting by circuit judges and tests hypotheses by modeling the error variance in a vote choice model. The findings indicate that judges are more predictable in their voting during their early and late career stages. Case characteristics and institutional features of the circuit also affect voting consistency.

Suggested Citation

  • Erin B. Kaheny & Susan Brodie Haire & Sara C. Benesh, 2008. "Change over Tenure: Voting, Variance, and Decision Making on the U.S. Courts of Appeals," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(3), pages 490-503, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:amposc:v:52:y:2008:i:3:p:490-503
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5907.2008.00325.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Albert Yoon, 2005. "As You Like It: Senior Federal Judges and the Political Economy of Judicial Tenure," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 2(3), pages 495-549, November.
    2. Virginia A. Hettinger & Stefanie A. Lindquist & Wendy L. Martinek, 2003. "Acclimation Effects and Separate Opinion Writing in the U.S. Courts of Appeals," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 84(4), pages 792-810, December.
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    4. Goldman, Sheldon, 1975. "Voting Behavior on the United States Courts of Appeals Revisited," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 69(2), pages 491-506, June.
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    6. Virginia A. Hettinger & Stefanie A. Lindquist & Wendy L. Martinek, 2004. "Comparing Attitudinal and Strategic Accounts of Dissenting Behavior on the U.S. Courts of Appeals," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 48(1), pages 123-137, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Keith Carlson & Michael A. Livermore & Daniel N. Rockmore, 2020. "The Problem of Data Bias in the Pool of Published U.S. Appellate Court Opinions," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(2), pages 224-261, June.
    2. Flavio Menezes & Magnus Söderberg & Miguel Santolino, 2012. "Regulatory behaviour under threat of court reversal," Discussion Papers Series 472, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    3. Miguel Santolino & Magnus Söderberg, 2011. "The influence of decision-maker effort and case complexity on appealed rulings subject to multi-categorical selection," IREA Working Papers 201115, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Sep 2011.
    4. Söderberg, Magnus & Menezes, Flavio M. & Santolino, Miguel, 2018. "Regulatory behaviour under threat of court reversal: Theory and evidence from the Swedish electricity market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 302-310.
    5. Christensen, Robert K. & Szmer, John, 2012. "Examining the efficiency of the U.S. courts of appeals: Pathologies and prescriptions," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 30-37.

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