Work

The Pervasive Influence of Political Composition on Circuit Court Decisions

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Using a novel dataset of about 640,000 circuit court decisions from 1985 to 2020, I show that panel political composition is associated with case outcomes in a vastly broader array of federal circuit court cases—representing together about 90% of all cases—than prior work has appreciated. In cases between parties that could be perceived to have unequal power, Democratic-nominated judges tend to have a “Pro-Weak” tendency to side with the seemingly weaker party. In cases without perceived power inequality, Democratic-nominated judges tend to have a “Less-Deference” tendency to be more willing to reverse lower court decision.

Source: The Journal of Legal Analysis

DOI: 10.1093/jla/laaf004

Author: Alma Cohen

Institutions: National Bureau of Economic Research, Harvard University, Tel Aviv University

Language: English

Topic: Judicial and Constitutional Studies

Subfield: Law

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: diamond

OpenAlex ID: W4412613177