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The Influence of Home-State Reputation and Public Opinion on Federal Circuit Court Judges

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2022

Ryan J. Owens  and
Patrick C. Wohlfarth
Ryan J. Owens*
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Patrick C. Wohlfarth
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park
*
Contact the corresponding author, Ryan J. Owens, at rjowens@wisc.edu.
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Abstract

At least four observationally equivalent theories argue that federal judges follow public opinion when they decide cases. Yet there is mixed empirical support for these theories. Using recently released data on public opinion, we discover that state public opinion exerts a meaningful impact on the votes of federal circuit court judges. Perhaps more important, we leverage a number of different empirical approaches to identify which theory the data support. The data suggest that circuit court judges may change along with society but also that they follow public opinion because they care about their reputations in their home states.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Law and Courts , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , Fall 2019 , pp. 187 - 214
Copyright
© 2019 by the Law and Courts Organized Section of the American Political Science Association. All rights reserved.

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Footnotes

We thank Peter Enns and workshop participants at the University of Maryland, College Park, for helpful feedback. We also thank Deborah Beim, Greg Huber, and workshop participants at the American Politics and Public Policy Workshop at Yale University.

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