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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. …
Voting And Electoral Politics In The Wisconsin Supreme Court, Jason J. Czarnezki
Voting And Electoral Politics In The Wisconsin Supreme Court, Jason J. Czarnezki
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This Article examines criminal cases decided by the Wisconsin Supreme Court over a fifteen-year period in an effort to discern whether judicial elections undercut judicial independence by affecting the ways justices vote. Wisconsin was chosen for this study because the state's mix of appointed and elected judges allows a researcher to control for different judicial selection systems. Specifically, this Article questions whether voting patterns may be affected by a justice's proximity to judicial elections, election margins, and whether a justice was appointed or elected in the initial term, since the governor may appoint a justice to fill a vacancy on …