Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Role of the U.S. Courts of Appeals in Legal Development: An Empirical Analysis

Washington University, Saint Louis MO

Investigators

Abstract

What are the causes and consequences of legal development? In recent years scholars have begun to address these challenging questions, yet there is still much work to be done. The intermediate level of the federal court system (a.k.a., circuit courts) provides an institutional context replete with opportunities to extend our theoretical and empirical understanding of legal development. This project takes advantage of these opportunities in three ways. The first component is an examination of the impact of circuit courts on state policy diffusion. Data on the adoption and content of state legislation regarding medical procedures, election law, and family law will shed light on the intersection of federal constitutional case law and the development of state law. The central claim is that state legislators will be more heavily influenced by other states under the jurisdiction of the same federal circuit when legislation has potential federal implications. The second and third segments of this project leverage circuit judges' citation to precedent in search and seizure cases over the last twenty years in order to gain insight into the extent to which law and the structure of legal institutions influence judicial behavior. A circuit court precedent is binding in its own circuit, but merely persuasive in other circuits. Consequently, the effect of ideology on how a precedent is treated should be significantly less when it is considered in its own circuit than when considered by a sister circuit. Moreover, the nuances of a circuit's citation to its own binding precedent are likely to be influenced by strategic anticipation of whether a case will be reviewed and overturned by the entire circuit. Empirical testing of both of these expectations will contribute to further understanding of how an important institution, the federal court system, both influences and is influenced by legal development. With regard to broader impact, this project will contribute to the training of a graduate student. In addition, public debates concerning the courts address the significance of judicial ideology. This project will contribute to providing information concerning the complexity of judicial decisionmaking and influence to the public debate.