Is the Sum Greater than Its Parts? Circuit Court Composition and Judicial Behavior in the Courts of Appeals
Is the Sum Greater Than Its Parts
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6090133 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Todd Collins, Todd A Collins (Western Carolina University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 434-453 |
| Publication date | 2010-08-31 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Law & Policy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0265-8240 • E-ISSN: 1467-9930 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9930.2010.00324.x |
| OpenAlex | W1488730152 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 30 |
Building on strategic models and the collegial nature of the U.S. courts of appeals, this article assesses the influence of a circuits' composition on individual judges' behaviors and the president's role in shaping the courts. As partisanship is one of the few signals of a nominee's ideology known to an executive administration at the time of appointment, it is important to measure partisan composition as a factor in individual behavior as well as other measures of overall ideology of the circuit. This article finds that the composition of the circuits influences individual behavior, even after controlling for individual ideology, panel effects, and other contextual factors. This remains true whether we examine composition based on partisanship or on more nuanced ideological measures. Noting that presidents, on average, create new partisan majorities within two circuits per four-year term, these findings suggest turnover on circuit courts may have influences on case outcomes outside of a particular new appointee's voting record
Composition (language · Ideology · Political science · Politics · Voting · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Law, Economics, and Judicial Systems · Legal and Constitutional Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology
Making Law in the United States Courts of Appeals
The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model Revisited
Interpreting Probability Models
Judicial Partisanship and Obedience to Legal Doctrine
The Judicial Common Space
Clarify
Some Realism about Realism
The Etiology of the Occurrence of En Banc Review in the U.S. Court of Appeals
Picking Federal Judges
Change over Tenure
Do the “Haves” Come Out Ahead over Time? Applying Galanter's Framework to Decisions of the U.S. Courts of Appeals, 1925-1988
Integrating Alternative Approaches to the Study of Judicial Voting
Assessing the Impact of Presidential and Home State Influences on Judicial Decisionmaking in the United States Courts of Appeals
Scoring Points
Marshalling the Court
The Hierarchy of Justice
Making the Most of Statistical Analyses
Why the "Haves" Come Out Ahead
On the Nature of Supreme Court Decision Making
The Impact of Party and Region on Voting Decisions in the United States Courts of Appeals, 1955-1986
Voting Behavior on the United States Courts of Appeals Revisited
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |