How Should We Study District Judge Decision-Making?

Abstract

among branches of government, 2 and within a judicial hierarchy 3 shape judicial decision-making. But studies of federal district judges-the nearly one thousand judges who compose 78% of the federal judiciary 4 and superintend 79% of its cases 5-have not matched this sophistication. Instead, much of the existing empirical work on federal district courts has failed to take account of the institutional setting in which those judges operate. Too often, studies of the district courts rely on an implicit assumption that judging at the trial court level is fundamentally the Supreme Court Justices engage in strategic voting in certiorari decisions); Forrest Maltzman &

Getting Their Way: Bias and Deference to Trial Courts

“…There is good reason to suspect that hierarchical dynamics are particularly influential in trial courts. A major difficulty that arises when trying to apply existing theories of judicial hierarchy to the trial court context is that trial courts are very different institutions than appellate courts (Boyd 2017;Kim et al 2009). A major difficulty that arises when trying to apply existing theories of judicial hierarchy to the trial court context is that trial courts are very different institutions than appellate courts (Boyd 2017;Kim et al 2009).…”

Empirical Analysis of Data Breach Litigation

“…Such efforts include the Securities Class Action Clearinghouse, Intellectual Property Litigation Clearinghouse, Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Kim et al. ).…”

“…For example, Kim et al. () use docket analysis to compare judicial decisions between district and appellate judges. Hoffman et al.…”

Empirical Analysis of Data Breach Litigation

“…This form of empirical research makes very practical use of publicly available --and generally very detailed --collection of pleadings, motions, rulings and administrative record keeping that compose a legal dispute. For example, Kim et al (2009) use docket analysis to compare judicial decisions between district and appellate judges. Hoffman et al (2007) use dockets to examine the incentives for judges to justify their legal decisions (i.e.…”

“…Such efforts include the Securities Class Action Clearinghouse, 7 Intellectual Property Litigation Clearinghouse, 8 Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse, 9 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (Kim et al, 2009).…”