Law Commons^™

From Judge To Justice: Social Background Theory And The Supreme Court, Tracey E. George

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The Roberts Court Justices already have revealed many differences from one another, but they also share a (possibly) significant commonality: Presidents promoted all of them to the U.S. Supreme Court from the U.S. Courts of Appeals. This means, of course, that they initially learned how to be judges while serving on a circuit court. How might the Justices' common route to the Court affect their actions on it? Social background theory hypothesizes that prior experience influences subsequent behavior such as voting, opinion writing, and coalition formation. This Article empirically analyzes promotion to the Supreme Court and examines the implications of …

"The Threes": Re-Imagining Supreme Court Decisionmaking, Chris Guthrie, Tracey E. George

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In this Essay--the first in a series of essays designed to reimagine the Supreme Court--we argue that Congress should authorize the Court to adopt, in whole or part, panel decision making... With respect to the prospect of different Court outcomes, we demonstrate empirically in this Essay that the vast majority of cases decided during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries--including "Grutter", "Roe", and "Bush v. Gore" --would have come out the same way if the Court had decided them in panels rather than as a full Court.

Deciphering Courts Of Appeals Decisions Using The U.S. Courts Of Appeals Data Base, Tracey E. George, Reginald S. Sheehan

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Is one circuit significantly more conservative or liberal than the others? Do circuit courts consistently avoid deciding the substance of certain appeals by concluding that the plaintiffs lack standing? Have state governments been more successful than other parties when they appeal adverse district court rulings? Do appeals courts act in a majoritarian or countermajoritarian manner with regard to elected institutions and the general public? The United States Courts of Appeals Data Base, an extensive data set of courts of appeals decisions, can address these and other questions about the circuit courts. This article describes the background, scope, and content of …

Book Reviews, Noel T. Dowling (Reviewer), Hugo L. Black, Jr. (Reviewer), George H. Cate, Sr. (Reviewer), Henry N. Williams (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

On Understanding the Supreme Court

By Paul A. Freund

Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1949. Pp. 130. $3.00

reviewer: Noel T. Dowling

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Courts on Trial

By Jerome N. Frank

Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1949. Pp. vii, 441. $5.00

reviewer: Hugo L. Black, Jr.

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Hugo L. Black: A Study in the Judicial Process

By Charlotte Williams

Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1950. Pp. vii, 208. $3.50.

reviewer: George H. Cate, Sr.

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Hatch Act Decisions (Political Activity Cases) of the United States Civil Service Commission

By James W. Irwin

Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1949. Pp. 304. $1.50 …