Can you predict judges' decisions by their political affiliation? This issue is discussed in the New York Times, "Politicians In Robes, Not Exactly But ..." and in a forthcoming book, The Behavior of Federal Judges, authored by U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner, a University of Chicago law and economics prof, William Landes, and a law and political science professor at Southern California, Lee Epstein, reports its studies and conclusions as follows:
- “federal judges are not just politicians in robes, though that is part of what they are.”
- “Justices appointed by Republican presidents vote more conservatively on average than justices appointed by Democratic ones, with the difference being most pronounced in civil rights cases”
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