Brian Z. Tamanaha
- Washington University School of Law
Political scientists and law professors have lately taken to asserting that quantitative studies of judging reveal worrisome findings about the rule of law in the U.S. judicial system. The authors of Are Judges Political? declare: “variations in panel composition lead to dramatically different outcomes, in a way that creates serious… Read More »
John Conley
- University of North Carolina Law School
Prior to the conference, the organizers asked me for my thoughts on how an anthropologist might approach the problem of studying judging. Those thoughts follow. I have subsequently reflected on the discussion at the conference itself, and I conclude this essay with those reflections.
When I think of “judging” as… Read More »
Alfred L. Brophy
- University of North Carolina Law School
I.
Introduction: The Conflict over the Rule of Law
This symposium asks how we can quantify and evaluate what judges do. Some of the papers are skeptical of attempts at quantification. These questions are of importance to legal historians, who frequently seek to link judicial behavior to larger cultural, economic, and… Read More »
Harris Hartz
- Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals
Improving the quality of the judiciary is a noble cause. I welcome the participation of social scientists in the endeavor. But it is an open question whether social science can meaningfully contribute. Left to their own devices, social scientists are likely to produce work of dubious value. Perhaps judges can… Read More »
Patrick S. Shin
- Suffolk University Law School
In this Essay, I raise a metatheoretical question concerning the relationship between what seem to be two distinct categories of projects that might be lumped together under the rubric of empirical study of judicial performance. One kind of empirical project aims broadly at developing a social-scientific theory of judging, or… Read More »
Much has been written about the process by which judges reach decisions in cases governed by the common law, but very little has been done to test this process empirically. Most empirical efforts have attempted to determine whether and to what extent judges’ political views influence their legal decisions. My… Read More »
The primary goal of the Duke Law Journal’s Symposium on Evaluating Judging, Judges, and Judicial Institutions was to bring together judges and academics researching judges. Conversations between these groups can be constructive on both sides. Judges may benefit from learning about studies that show the influences on judicial performance or… Read More »