The Behavior of Federal Judges

Chapter 2
The Previous Empirical Literature

INTRODUCTION

Here we introduce the legal community to the substantial social-scientific literature about judges. We review the history of the empirical studies that relate to our model of the judge, as well the results of research on individual decision-making (the effect of a judge's ideology, life experiences, personality, etc., on his judicial votes); collegial and other group effects (such as panel composition, dissent aversion, and opinion assignment by presiding judges); hierarchical effects (the relations between lower and higher courts); and interactions between the judiciary and other branches of government. An Appendix lists important and recent empirical studies.