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The Ideology Of Legal Interpretation, Jason J. Czarnezki
The Ideology Of Legal Interpretation, Jason J. Czarnezki
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This Article questions whether consistency in legal interpretation is truly a manifestation of the influence of law or instead a means to a preferred policy end. Part I of this Article discusses the legal interpretive tools of originalism and legislative history and how they might influence outcomes in cases. Part II discusses judicial decision-making in the U.S. Courts of Appeals and justifies their use in the analysis. Parts III and IV offer information on our data and methodology, as well as a discussion of the results. Finally, in Part V, we find that the use of legal interpretive strategies are …
An Empirical Investigation Of Judicial Decisionmaking, Statutory Interpretation, And The Chevron Doctrine In Environmental Law, Jason J. Czarnezki
An Empirical Investigation Of Judicial Decisionmaking, Statutory Interpretation, And The Chevron Doctrine In Environmental Law, Jason J. Czarnezki
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
How do courts evaluate decisions of statutory interpretation made by government agencies that deal in environmental law? While research on judicial decisionmaking in environmental law has primarily focused on the D.C. Circuit, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the influence of ideology, only recently have legal scholars begun to consider the role of legal factors in judicial decisionmaking in environmental law. With special attention paid to how courts implement the Chevron doctrine, this Article empirically and doctrinally analyzes environmental law cases decided in the United States Courts of Appeals over a three-year period (2003-05) to investigate what factors, including ideological, legal, …
The Phantom Philosophy? An Empirical Investigation Of Legal Interpretation, Jason J. Czarnezki
The Phantom Philosophy? An Empirical Investigation Of Legal Interpretation, Jason J. Czarnezki
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This Article tests a model of judicial decisionmaking that incorporates elements of both the attitudinal model and the legal model, along with measures of institutional and judicial background characteristics such as collegiality and trial court experience. We develop a measure of interpretive philosophy relying primarily on judicial opinions, which we code for certain indicators of traditional interpretive approaches (i.e., the use of interpretive tools). The critical question is whether judges with similar interpretive philosophies are more likely to agree with one another when deciding cases. Our general finding is that ideology and interpretive philosophy are not significant predictors of agreement. …