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Designated Diffidence: District Court Judges On The Courts Of Appeals Papers Of General Interest, James J. Brudney, Corey Distlear
Designated Diffidence: District Court Judges On The Courts Of Appeals Papers Of General Interest, James J. Brudney, Corey Distlear
Faculty Scholarship
Since 1980, District CourtJudges, designated pursuant to federal statute, have helped decide over 75,000 court of appeals cases-nearly one of every five merits decisions. Although scholars and judges have warned that the presence of these visitors on appellate panels may undermine consistency, legitimacy, or collegiality, little empirical evidence exists related to such concerns. Working with an especially complete data set of labor law opinions, the authors found that district court visitors perform in a much more diffident fashion than their appellate colleagues. They contribute notably fewer majority opinions and dissents. In addition, their participations do not reflect their professional or …